Critic’s Choice
Sydney Morning Herald
Gentrification is examined from the inside out in this stirring documentary about an innovative protest against the redevelopment of two inner Sydney housing commission towers. The "We Live Here" art protest that lights up homes in multi-coloured neon is presented in all its fractured glory. more
Film Ink
Waterloo Lives Matter
There Goes Our Neighbourhood is an engrossing one-hour documentary which screens on ABC TV, exploring a community that pushes back against the gentrification happening in their desirable postcode…In the process, we the audience, come into contact with many of the voiceless in the community, and start to understand what is at stake here. more
Radio National
There goes our Neighbourhood
There are close to 200,000 people waiting for social housing in Australia. As public housing is residualised, allocation goes to the poorest, sickest, neediest meaning these communities are increasingly marginalised and isolated. What little remains of public housing stock is threatened by redevelopment. One group in NSW, however, has fought back. We discuss the problems of gentrification, affordable housing and ask who, in 21st century Australia, has a right to the city. more
The Guardian
How Waterloo residents turned Art into Activism
There Goes Our Neighbourhood, directed by Clare Lewis, tells the inside story of the creation of #WeLiveHere2017: a large-scale collaborative community artwork within the estate’s iconic 30-storey Matavai and Turanga towers...The documentary highlights the human face of public housing, weaving between the inspiring, sometimes tragic, stories of those who live at the estate. more
South Sydney Herald
Documentary Observes Community Spirit
There Goes Our Neighbourhood, which documents responses to the redevelopment of the Waterloo estate and the creation of a community light sculpture in two of the high-rises, premiered November 20 on the ABC. Andrew Collis met with director Clare Lewis to discuss the making of the documentary, social change, protest and community spirit. more
The Conversation
We Still Live Here
“People are trying to speak up,” says Maryanne Laumua, a Waterloo tenant and key team member of the WeLiveHere2017 project. One of the ways that residents are speaking up is by making their presence known on Sydney’s skyline. In September 2017, residents in the tallest of Waterloo’s towers, Matavai and Turanga, installed coloured lights in their apartment windows to make a statement: “We live here”. more
2SER Radio
New Doco Protests Waterloo’s Redevelopment
These stories have been brought together in a documentary called “There Goes Our Neighbourhood” which airs on ABC TV tonight at 9:20pm. Clare joined Tess for a chat about the making of this local doco. more
ABC News
Lighting up the windows of Waterloo to make statement about public housing
Mary Laumua has become an activist for her community of public housing tenants in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo.The 37-year-old community worker and mother of four, wants to shine a light on the struggles of public housing tenants facing large-scale redevelopment and dislocation."We want everyone in Australia and around the world to know that we matter." more
The Conversation
We Live Here: How do residents feel about public housing redevelopment?
The Sydney suburb of Waterloo is set to be redeveloped as a state-government-nominated “State Significant Precinct”. Many Waterloo residents are anxious about the relocation process and about what kind of neighbourhood they will return to. Documentary filmmakers and urban scholars are working alongside residents as they attempt to engage with media reporting and urban planning of the redevelopment. more
The Guardian
The Art Project Making Public Housing in Sydney's Waterloo Glow
Every night for the past few weeks, the twin towers at the Waterloo public housing estate have slowly begun to light up. At 30 storeys, the Matavai and Turanga buildings loom over the rest of the estate, and at 5.30pm each evening new windows have started blinking on like fairy lights to join the others. more
Sydney Morning Herald
'We Live Here' art installation to shine light on demolition of Waterloo public housing project
From the street, there is little sign of the ongoing battle to save the Waterloo public housing development – but a project launching this weekend aims to change that. Thousands of people who call the sprawling development home will be moved on under a state government plan to demolish... more
Junkee.com
There’s An Important Story Behind Those Pictures Of Neon-Lit Apartment Windows
There’s a picture you might have seen on social media of late. If you ever spend time in Sydney’s Redfern or Waterloo at night, you might also have seen it in person. It’s an image of two drab grey concrete towers, with a smattering of windows lit up in neon hues. It looks a bit like a light-up dancefloor superimposed on a building, or else a multi-storey game of Tetris. They want your attention. And thanks to the lights, they have it.. more
Dezeen.com
Residents of Sydney high-rise estate use lights to protest against gentrification
Night after night, the windows of the tower blocks that make up the Waterloo Estate in Sydney have been gradually lit up in different colours as part of a public art project that aims to make the community more visible. more
Hyperallergic.com
In Protest of Gentrification, Sydney Residents Turn Towers into Light Display
Residents at a 1970s public housing estate in Sydney are fighting gentrification in a simple yet striking display that asserts the presence of their community to the entire city. Every night, hundreds of residents living in soaring towers at the Waterloo estate are turning on colorful lights in their windows to illuminate the buildings. more
FBi Radio, All the Best
We Live Here Podcast: Eviction
Anna has lived in her tower apartment for 45 years. In fact, she was the fifth person to move in when the building was completed in the 70’s. It wasn’t long after the Queen herself cut the ribbon, officially opening the two Waterloo Towers. Now, Anna is facing eviction, along with thousands of other residents. But not everyone is just lying down and taking it. more
2SER Radio
#WeLiveHere2017
Waterloo residents are taking part in a huge high-rise light sculpture. more
Alt Media
Towers illuminate to meet
their Waterloo
The twin towers at the centre of Waterloo public housing estate have been illuminated with squares of coloured lighting for an arts project that draws attention to their uncertain future.
Visible from a distance, the 30-storey high Matavai and Turanga building windows... more
Daily Telegraph
Waterloo's public housing residents showcase their heart through film and art
A new project will shine a light on the people who make up Waterloo’s public housing community. Ahead of the proposed razing of the Matavai and Turanga towers in the Waterloo estate, 500 coloured lights will be installed into the windows of housing tenants, allowing them to change the colours to communicate their feelings with the outside world. more
Shelter NSW
The lights are on, somebody's home
People react to the political decisions made about the places where they live in ways that can be seen, heard, felt, and sensed. In Waterloo, a place with a history of large-scale redevelopments, community responses to the most recent state government announcement for ‘renewal’ are creative, risky, and political... more
City Hub
Waterloo Tenants Speak Up
Community art project ‘We Live Here 2017’ is providing Waterloo public housing tenants with a platform to express how they feel about controversial plans to redevelop their homes. The project will see a light installation at Waterloo’s Matavai and Turanga Towers come to life in July, followed by a documentary in late 2017 capturing the stories of tenants and roll out of the project. more
ABC News Radio
Public Housing Residents want to Light Up the Skyline
A group of public housing residents in inner-city Waterloo in Sydney want to set-up one of the largest art-installation projects the country has ever seen. The 'We Live Here Project' plans to put mood lights in the windows of these towers to draw attention to what is happening. more
South Sydney Herald
Vivid Memories
Apart from making a documentary that explores and celebrates our neighbourhood stories, Clare and her team are working with Matavai and Turanga towers to create a community-powered light sculpture... more
Alt Media
Sirius business: A brutalist victory
A local community group has won their court case against the state government. The Sirius building, Millers Point will now be heritage listed, after the former NSW Heritage Minister Mark Speakman failed to do so in 2014. Mr Speakman claimed listing the building would... more
Art Pharmacy
Art That Highlights: WeLiveHere2017
What the lasting effects of the Sydney Contemporary be? What will crowds remember this year? For us at Art Pharmacy and Culture Scouts, the artwork of choice will definitely be the socially poignant installation, #WeLiveHere2017. The installation is on a massive scale, just up the road from our gallery, and seen from the Redfern Station platform. more
City of Sydney
#WeLiveHere2017
60 storeys of light, 5000 stories of home
If you have walked through Redfern or Waterloo lately, you might have noticed colourful lights appearing in the windows of Matavai and Turanga towers. It’s part of #WeLiveHere2017: a community led art installation that aims to generate discussion about the people affected by urban renewal projects.The project transforms the towers into a beacon to the community, powered by the people themselves. more