Growing up, Christopher Zanko formed impressions of local architecture that helped him build a ‘cognitive map’. Particular houses and streets in the Wollongong suburbs of his childhood, on Dharawal land, became markers for him in a place now undergoing development and gentrification.

Zanko, a two-time Wynne finalist, noticed this house while walking to his daughter’s preschool in 2023. ‘The arrangement of shadows cast by the eaves and the glimpse into the backyard gave a sense of familiarity,’ he says. Rendered large, with confident lines, the house’s textures of red brick, speckled concrete, pruned bushes and drawn blinds have been lovingly depicted. Zanko carves into the wooden surface with small hand chisels before adding colour, then accentuates the work’s graphic details and deep shadows by applying black paint with a roller.

While the changing nature of our environment can be challenging, Zanko notes, it ‘is arguably necessary, especially considering Australia’s current housing crisis’. ‘Through my process I seek to give a sense of permanency to the narratives and experiences of suburban Australia.’