HOME. WOMEN. HOUSING.

Home. Women. Housing. presents printed comics and illustrations that explore women’s* lived experiences with housing, revealing how politics, societal structures, and life events shape our relationship with home. Here, housing is more than just shelter — it shapes identity, well-being, and safety.

Featuring the personal housing stories of women from diverse backgrounds, ages, and cultures, these visual narratives foster emotional connection, amplify voices often excluded from public discourse, and spark conversations about housing justice, inclusivity, and gender-sensitive design. The exhibition also offers insights on navigating the housing system and accessing support.

Ultimately, the project aspires to influence public perspectives on housing equity and inspire broader conversations about the need for inclusive, affordable, and responsive housing policies — while emphasising the designer’s role in shaping this discourse. Women face disproportionate housing insecurity in Australia, built off a combination of factors such as the gender pay gap, societal expectations, and reduced financial capacity—compounded further by classist and racist discrimination, reinforcing broader structural inequalities.

Through the combination of artistic expression and public dialogue, Home. Women. Housing. encourages collective engagement. This exhibition includes a talk by the curator and participators of the exhibition. The presentation provides insights and details about the artwork on display along informal dialogue about personal experiences of when spatial design has met your needs, preferred housing types and what your neighbourhood offers to help you to feel safe, well-connected, and comfortable.

*When we say women, we always include trans and gender-diverse women and sistergirls.

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OFFICE is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary design and research practice based in Melbourne. Their projects span the intersections of built form, research, discourse and education. As a registered charity, the studio’s operations, processes and outputs are bound by a constitution to make projects for the public good. OFFICE supported this project through their Ampersand platform, which mentors individuals or groups to develop their own ideas and address important issues facing the built environment.