PHOTOGRAPHY STREET

Before Instagram, personal cameras, copyright and privacy laws, street photographers were a familiar part of Australian cities and towns during the 1930’s to the late 1950’s.

They created a vast archive of black-and-white, postcard-sized candid images of the cities and its people. At the height of its popularity in the mid-1930s, over 10,000 people in NSW were buying photos from street photography companies every week.

Street Photography features 250 digitised and enlarged personal images, offering a fascinating glimpse into the everyday life of Australian cities and its people during the Depression, WWII and post-war years. This carefully curated selection of images was chosen following a hugely successful public call-out by Museums of History NSW where 1500 personal images were contributed.

As street photography companies went out of fashion, very few negatives lasted except for a rare collection which came to light through the public call-out and have now been acquired by Museums of History NSW, preserved for the future.

Presented alongside this extraordinary and largely unseen pictorial record, is a series of works by the nationally acclaimed photomedia artist Anne Zahalka. She restaged ten of the original images, with descendants and those still living in similar locations where their parents, grandparents or they themselves once stood. The exhibition also includes new images taken at live photographic locations in key places around the city similar to the street photography of the past.

Providing a fascinating glimpse into our modern history, Street Photography demonstrates the wide reach of street photographers capturing our everyday lives.

Each image is a fleeting memento of a day spent in the city and reveals who we were, the changing fashions and social mores.

On exhibition until the end of April

Presented by Hurstville Museum & Gallery, Street Photography is a touring exhibition from Museums of History NSW.