When Leons Samulis moved to Point Cook 16 years ago, his house was one of the first in the estate.
In the years since, he’s had the unique perspective of seeing his suburb transform and grow around him, becoming almost unrecognisable from the area that he first moved to.
The changing Wyndham landscape is the subject of Samulis’s latest exhibition, The Ancient, Old and New, which opened at the Saltwater Community Centre last week.
The exhibition features paintings depicting iconic places in Wyndham. Each painting is based on a real-life image Samulis captured on his iPhone while out and about in Wyndham, and later recreated on canvas.
At least two of the landscapes, including the old Manor Lakes water tank, no longer exist in the form Samulis has captured them in, having already been taken over by development.
In another, Samulis captures a line of traffic waiting at the lights out the front of the Racecourse Hotel in Werribee.
“That’s exactly what the western suburbs is about … it’s a romantic view of coming home after a hard day’s work,” he said.
Samulis, who works as a driver by day, has been producing art as his “weekend work” since 1989, and has exhibited in a number of shows. He received an honourable mention at this year’s Wyndham Art Prize.
Samulis’ exhibition will remain on display until September 8.
