Heart of Gold
More than two years ago, during my first week in Randwick, I walked along Belmore Road and passed a small shop called Boston.
Behind the counter was Will.
He smiled, welcomed me, and somehow made a stranger feel less strange.
Since then, I have passed his shop countless times. Sometimes I bought something. Often I simply stopped for a conversation. What stayed with me was not only the shop itself, but the human behind it.
Will is a businessman, yet he is also an artist.
His shop carries clothing, music, photographs, stories, and traces of the people who gather there. A poem hangs from the ceiling. Musicians play. The bell rings. Conversations begin.
Over the years I have watched people from many walks of life stop outside Boston. Musicians, workers, elderly neighbours, people doing it tough, people who might be overlooked elsewhere. Will welcomes them all.
In a city increasingly shaped by franchises, rules, and transactions, there is something rare about a place where people are seen as humans first.
I once heard someone dismiss the crowd outside his shop. I disagreed.
What I see is a person who recognizes dignity where others may only see labels.
As an immigrant, I know what it feels like to arrive somewhere and discover that many of the roots you once relied upon no longer reach the ground. You begin again. Slowly. Like a seed learning a new soil.
During those years, Will's smile was one of the constants.
He told me that business is not always easy. Yet even on difficult days, he shows up with generosity, humour, and kindness.
That is why I call him a human with a heart of gold.
This is not a sponsored post.
It is simply a note of appreciation.
If you are walking along Belmore Road in Randwick, stop by Boston. Listen to the music. Say hello to Will. Support independent shops while they are still here.
Places matter.
Yet sometimes it is the people inside them who become part of the map.
Belmore Road, Randwick, Sydney, Australia, Winter 2026
👣 Independent artist and Doctor of Arts working across walking-based artistic research, photography, writing, photobooks, and urban study. You can support and join this journey through commissions, collaborations, collecting works, artist talks, workshops, and walking-based projects.
Wake Up, It’s Morning Now
Last night I watched the story of Bikram Lama, a Nepali man who came to Australia as an international student and later died while sleeping rough in Sydney’s CBD.
The story stayed with me.
I came to Australia with hope.
Nearly two years later, I find myself reflecting on a contradiction that reaches far beyond one country.
Universities celebrate global rankings.
Cities celebrate diversity.
Governments speak about innovation, talent, and international exchange.
These things matter.
Yet there is another side to the story.
Many of the people who help make a city global remain excluded from the resources that sustain life within it.
International students pay fees.
Researchers bring knowledge.
Artists contribute culture.
Workers fill essential roles.
Yet many live with housing insecurity, precarious employment, uncertain visas, and limited access to support.
The contradiction is difficult to ignore.
We benefit from internationalism, yet often distribute security through increasingly local and restricted systems.
A society becomes stronger when it attracts people from around the world.
The question is whether it is willing to care for those same people when they struggle.
Walking through Sydney, I see posters celebrating inclusion.
I believe many of those commitments are sincere.
Yet walking also reveals another city.
The city of shared rooms, rising rents, food queues, uncertain papers, and people carrying extraordinary qualifications while struggling to secure the basics of life.
This is not only an Australian question.
It is a global one.
What obligations do we have toward the people whose labour, knowledge, creativity, and presence help make our institutions successful?
Every society celebrates its achievements.
The harder question is:
Who carried the weight?
Who was welcomed as talent, yet abandoned as a person?
And what happens to those who are forgotten along the way?
I dedicate this photograph to Bikram Lama.
May the morning arrive for those still carrying the night.
Learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bnY_drWXNc
Sydney, Australia, Winter 2026
Artist and Doctor of Arts working across walking-based artistic research, photography, writing, and urban study. Available for commissions, artist talks, workshops, and collaborations.
The Seed: Biophilic Bench Design Studies by Jumana Hamdani and Sepa Sama. Developed through the Land Arc project at Kivik Art Centre and Lund University, the work is now included in Rumble60 at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design. It explores sitting, walking, landscape, public space, and artistic research.
Photo: Sepa Sama
Los Angeles, USA, June 2026
Shattered Topography: A Monument to Waste — photographic documentation of a public installation at Martin Place during Climate Action Week Sydney. Commissioned through UNSW, the work records a temporary urban intervention constructed from discarded construction material, reflecting on material cycles, waste, and climate responsibility within the everyday space of the city.
This image forms part of my ongoing practice connecting walking, urban observation, and photography as artistic research in public space.
Photo: Sepa Sama
Sydney, Australia, March 2026
Barrett House Residency — Final Exhibition
As my residency at Barrett House Studios comes to a close, these final days gather the work that has grown from walking, now turning into film, light, and sound. During the residency I worked toward composing a film, exploring a new language in filmmaking.
Presented as the final exhibition at Barrett House Studios in Randwick, Sydney, the project continues a practice where walking, observation, and artistic research unfold through moving image and the experience of place.
Photo: Mark Bond
Randwick, Sydney, Australia, November 2025