One man's mission to prove Sydney still has a soul

The Age

2 days ago

Asani has maintained such a tone as his content has proliferated. His page has identified various 'Sydney creatures' through classifications and attributes such as the 'amazing' eyebrows on a Lebanese man who grew up in 'the area' – a local term for western Sydney – in the early 2000s, or the fact that an 'old lady from the upper north shore' makes the perfect cup of tea. Last year he published a 'mullet map' which showed how the hairstyle differed on heads across the city.
To Asani, the hyper-local nature of his jokes and celebratory undertones of his page are part of a worldview best summarised as 'getting people to care about Sydney'.
'My memes are short glimpses and moments in Sydney, and just showing how colourful Sydney is because it has a reputation as being a bit soulless or cultureless, especially compared to Melbourne,' he says.
'People talk about Sydney as being very corporate or being very commercial, and it is really important to me to say, no, actually, Sydney does have a soul.'
Asani says that some people are attracted to the page out of a curiosity about different parts of Sydney, with clichés in some areas unknown elsewhere.
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'I want people in the northern beaches to be curious about people in western Sydney, and vice versa,' he says. 'I think there are stories and jokes they don't know about each other.'
The Monkey Boy page works hard to deliver, with Asani at times posting many times a week. As well as geographically focused content, he makes memes relating to current affairs; elections, union negotiations with the state government, the weather and the Easter Show have all previously featured.
Beyond giving his comedic and storytelling instincts an outlet, Asani is motivated by a desire to provide local content.
In the absence of TV shows and movies set in and about Sydney, Asani believes a page like his can fill a gap, sharing the many stories the city has to tell.
'I think there is a need for local content,' he says. 'People love it, and the internet has made it more accessible.
'TV channels and media companies don't find it feasible to make shows only about Sydney, but I can. I have no overheads; I can tell the stories I want to.'
With such a passionate belief in telling Australian stories, Asani sees himself as a 'kind of nationalist'.
'I think we need to uplift Australian creators. You need to choose Aussie artists over the foreign artists. I definitely, definitely have always viewed myself as someone that champions Australian stories.'
But while he wants to celebrate Sydney, Asani is also concerned by the direction the city is taking.
To Asani, young people being priced out of housing presents an existential problem to the city and its culture by impeding social movement for young people, restricting them to areas they can afford, and diluting the cultural power that comes with economic freedom.
He worries that, without a solution, Sydney could become 'like Dubai', where 'working-class people are in the shadows, and the city is a bit soulless'.
'Even rich people lose out,' he says. 'Who do they think start cool cafes or do any of the cool stuff in the city? It is always working-class people. They bring the culture, and it will be a real shame if they are priced out.'