Single:

2009: In relationships, a single person is one who is not married or in a romantic relationship. Single people may engage in dating to find a partner or spouse. Not all single people actively seek out a relationship, some are content to wait for the 'right' person to enter their lives, while others do not seek relations at all due to being asexual or disabled. (Wikipedia, 2009)

This series documents ‘single’ people living in Brisbane between 2008- 2009. Being single, I was curious about how other ‘singles’ were getting on. I wanted to document their personal space and dating habits to find out what it said about them.

This work deals with issues of confusion, resilience, independence, denial, identity and the pressure to fit in to a “coupled” society. It seeks to discover whether or not ‘single’ people feel there is a stigma attached to their status and also if their personal space provides any ‘clues’ to their single status.

Possibly, attempting to raise the profile of the ‘single’ person and hopefully challenge common stereotypes.

Renee Melides, 2009

Renee Melides completed her undergraduate studies in Journalism at the University of Queensland in 2005. During this time, she also commenced a year of photography at the Queensland College of Art. Upon completion of her studies, Renee lived in Europe, undertaking internships at the prestigious Magnum Photo agency and CNN International, both in London in 2007. Returning to Brisbane and inspired by her experience, she took up her Master of Arts in Visual Art at QCA, Griffith University and graduated in August 2009.

Renee was also a member of the editorial board of the Australian Photojournalist in 2008, (a non-profit annual journal which publishes photo essays, stories and critiques both visual and text pieces from around the world). She currently works for the local paper and freelances for various publications.