Melbourne street photographers wanted
In a new initiative, the Victorian State Archives (Public Record Office Victoria) has embarked on a collaborative exhibition project to showcase the best images from its historic photographic collections alongside shots of Melbourne today.
With tens of thousands of historic photographs to choose from, dating back to the 1860s, according to project manager Kate Follington, there’s no shortage of inspiration.
“We have extraordinary photographic collections held at the Victorian Archives Centre. Government photographers started capturing Melbourne’s evolution within about thirty years of development, and we want our visitors to enter the VAC Gallery and see what Melbourne and its people were like in years past up against present-day photographs of what it’s become.”
The VAC gallery has already displayed two successful photographic exhibitions and will launch a third exhibition in September on Melbourne’s street fashion to coincide with Spring Fashion Week.
The project’s success has relied on the enthusiasm of street photographers willing to submit photographs of Melbourne today inspired by the same curatorial theme as that chosen for the archival images.
“We’ve had award-winning photographers like Chris Hopkins submit, as well as members of Meet-up groups who get together specifically to shoot for the gallery. The creativity of the submissions has blown us away, we really encourage a variety of perspectives, and anyone can submit.”
The first exhibition Hair: From Mos to Mullets explored the social history of hairstyles, which included a factory worker from 1932 styling a trendy black Bob, while from the 2016 submissions, three punks lacquer up their liberty spikes on Flinder’s Lane, evidence that some lifestyles never go out of fashion.
The current exhibition Of Kin and Kind captures the spirit of Melbourne community. The archival photographs include a 1980s female AFL team, while on the contemporary wall a flamboyant Kate Bush fan smiles amid a sea of red dresses from the 2016 Wuthering Heights flash mob.
The Victorian Archives Centre is located at 99 Shiel Street in North Melbourne, the VAC Gallery is open Monday to Friday and the second and last Saturday of the month.
Submissions are now open for the next exhibition From Catwalk to Sidewalks: Melbourne’s Street Fashion submission guidelines can be found here.
