Koppes spent his teenage years in Canberra in the 1970s. In the early 1970s Canberra was in the midst of an upswing in the wake of Gough Whitlam’s election. “I found Canberra an interesting place,” Koppes remembers. “As I grew up I met some of the most interesting people. Canberra’s got some pretty interesting attributes – it’s got the highest rate of occultism, and the highest rate of adultery. It’s a quiet place, but with a seedy underbelly. I definitely enjoyed the perspective I got while I was there – it gave me a blank canvass from which to work.” [https://www.beat.com.au/the-church/]