COLLINS ST, 5PM 1955-2033
This has been perhaps the most popular piece in this current exhibition.
This sketchbook is drawn following the work of John Brak, Collins Street 5pm, 1955. The original painting depicts accounting and clerical white-collar (predominantly male) workers rushing to get their daily commute train at Spencer Station (now Southern Cross Station). My storey takes places from that point onward where I show how in the 1980's through changes in legislation which included land use from mono-functional (strictly business) to residential, retail and leisure activities and opportunities. For example, people could now live, work and have fun in Melbourne CBD. Restaurants were allowed to place their tables on the side of the road...and with that the coffee culture that Melbourne is so proud of, emerged.
The sketch book continues into the turn of the Century, I moved to live in Melbourne on the first week of August 2004, only a few days before my 31st Birthday celebration, one thing I can tell you is that I never felt being a foreigner in Melbourne, the mix of demographic background possibly reduce my self awareness as not being born here. When one turns to see the back of the book, then global pandemics hit hard 2020 and with that social isolation. A couple of yeast later, after our multiple lock-downs, the return to work was slow, and if people got closer together, the social distancing was still abyssmal, everyone to themselves, everyone with noise cancelling headphones, signs with office space for lease where very common. The the final frame indicates the future, possibly co-existing with automotons.
Comments
Post a Comment