In a Room is a conversation series where we ask our friends to share their favourite domestic spaces. For this edition we’re joined by photographer DANIEL SHIPP.
Daniel Shipp is a contemporary Australian artist whose photographic works focus on and celebrate the overlooked, the forgotten and the discarded. Wild plants discovered in unremarkable public spaces; basketballs salvaged from the gutter; bikes abandoned in the street; in most people’s eyes, these are forgettable objects undeserving of attention. For Shipp however, each item is a treasure that carries stories from its past, speaks to its present and sings to an imagined future. With a touch of reverence, Shipp asks his viewer to consider afresh what we value, where we focus our attention - and what we care about.
Home is important to Daniel, and as a photographer, he pays special attention to light, space, and small details that often go unnoticed. Come take a look inside his residence and studio.
Daniel Shipp in his studio
Which room are you in today?
In the living area, our apartment is open plan and this room has all the light and the view.
Which room is the most active in your house?
The kitchen here pumps out so much food, we cook almost everything we eat. It feels like a commercial kitchen sometimes.
Which room gets the least amount of use?
I’d consider our balcony a room that is designed to be looked at more than anything. It’s west facing and often too cool in winter or too glaringly sunny in the summer after work to be sitting out there. There are moments when it’s perfect though.
Which is your work-from-home room of choice?
The dining table is my WFH space. I like a big able to spread out on. It’s quite a long table so the end of it always has a stack of books and day to day things to deal with.
The home of Daniel Shipp
What defines a great room?
The right furniture, great lighting and a warmth. Our walls are filled with art, collected mainly from local artists, friends or heirlooms. Everything has a story attached. It makes the room alive and that’s the kind of warmth I need.
What is your favourite type of room?
Our living room room faces west, and the end of day skies are often very dramatic and always different. The light is incredible. It’s the sort of room that you can spend the day working in and not feel like you’ve missed out on what’s happening outside.
What is your all time favourite room?
I had always wanted to live above a shop and years ago I found the top floor of a terrace which had a fashion store underneath. It was essentially one big room with a storage nook to the side. It was big enough that I could set up lights and shoot in there like a small studio. I feel like it was one of the places that I really learnt to use light. I would often go to sleep with a bedroom full of lights set up.
It had a little balcony with a leafy outlook where I had many afternoon / evening hangs with friends. It was the first time I had lived alone and I loved it so much – and it was like $100 a week in Surry Hills!!
What’s not to love about that? it was perfect for a single person at that stage of life, a true gift.
The home of Daniel Shipp
