A chance conversation in an IGA car park about pretty lights, summer, Scotland and running somehow led to Vikings, abandoned buildings and the places where we each feel most alive.

Why do so many houses sit vacant for years, sometimes even decades? After documenting abandoned houses across Western Australia, I've often wondered whether this is a matter of property rights or whether there's a deeper moral question. Beyond the empty buildings lie forgotten family histories, lost memories and communities watching another piece of their past slowly disappear.

After more than a decade of delays, the long-awaited redevelopment of Morley Galleria is finally underway. The $240 million transformation will modernise one of Perth's best-known shopping centres with new retail, dining and community spaces, bringing new life to a centre that had become increasingly vacant while residents waited for work to begin.

I was photographing the old Bank of New South Wales/Westpac building at 452 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth, when I started chatting to a lovely lady named Marie.