The Line Through Brunswick is a documentary project revolving around the Upfield train line. Conceived in response to the announcement of the absorption of Brunswick’s 3.5km of rail line into the existing northern Sky Rail project, the photographer began collaborating with local writer Kevin Brophy, the pair aiming to capture for the future, in words and photographs, the long-made, make-do spirit of this narrow, densely populated urban corridor.

Supported by the Merri-bek City Council and the Brunswick Community History Group, the collaborators walked and cycled the train line’s neighbouring bike path over multiple seasons, and at both ends of the day. In addition to recording surfaces, crossing gates, trees and orchards, huts, signals, graffiti and other oddities, Nicholas and Kevin spoke with dozens of people along the line; these expeditions ultimately leading the pair all the way to the Upfield terminus.

Across the three years of the expanding project, the collaborators came to see how the line plaits along its length the lives of artists, gardeners, orchardists, arborists, parkland protectors, bicycle mechanics, bar and cafe owners, walkers, commuters and cyclists - everywhere showing the marks of its history. More than a commuter rail and bicycle route, simultaneously dividing and linking the suburb, the line through Brunswick is fizzy and organic, concentrating the creativity of people, at home, at work, in transit, and at leisure. Their efforts culminated in an exhibition at the Brunswick Neighbourhood House, this committing to memory a living portrait of the line and its community.