Everything I’m currently building, writing, or turning up for. Some of it pays, some of it doesn’t, and some of it won’t be finished for years.
Beneath the Surface AU
This is my main professional work, and my full-time job. It’s my business and I work for myself. This is where I educate, research, write, consult and advocate on homelessness, domestic abuse and associated mental health issues. It runs on workshops and training, education courses, research, and consulting. My work is informed by lived experiences and backed by academic research.
LVXP.AU
A free service I offer for people like myself, through Beneath the Surface AU. LVXP.AU is a free link page (like linktree and link in bio) for people who represent something (anything, including yourself). It provides a single address to keep your work, your writing and your contact details so you can hand out one link instead of explaining yourself every time. It resides at lvxp.au/@username. Here’s mine for example: lvxp.au/@matt. This is offered as part of my own and Beneath the Surface AU’s policy of keeping doors open instead of closing them behind us. There’s no cost for this service.
Black Mask
A three-book memoir about childhood domestic abuse and violence, youth violence, educational disadvantage, and experiencing homelessness at 16. The black mask is a metaphor — the one I wore to hide what was happening, and then to hide myself from everyone else. The books are about how it got built and what it has taken to get it off. There’s more about it, and a sample chapter, on the Beneath the Surface AU site.
The Purpose of Homelessness
My research asks a question the field and sector mostly haven’t. Does homelessness serve a purpose in Australia’s economy and society? I’m answering it structurally, as something that’s produced and maintained by a number of systems within Australia’s economic, political and wider social discourses.
Vier
Found-document fiction, set in an alternate history where the Allies won the war and then walked away from rebuilding Europe, leaving the continent to fall apart into micronations. At its core it questions where humanity begins, and where it ends. You follow the life of Vier Vaisenkindt, from childhood through to his rule of the European Micro-nation of Nova Solis. The story is assembled from the evidence gathered for the charges he faces over crimes against humanity. The book is presented as dossiers (chapters) full of transcripts, intelligence reports, medical records and letters, and you work out what happened from the paperwork and form your own opinions on who he is and what he represents. It’s a work in progress and I often share updates on this site’s blog or on my social media.
Social Inclusion Community Gardens
A community garden at Balga Senior High School that grew out of a local food security working group through Social Inclusion Mirrabooka and Surrounds (SIMS). I’m on the committee as secretary and see it as an extension of the wider work that I do.
If any of this is useful to something you’re doing, get in touch.