The past is an elusive land, that fritters through our fingers. The 1840 Sydney of Joseph Fowles has been no-more for eons. The Darlinghurst struggle-street of Henry Lawson has been botoxed into oblivion. The gentrified and bohemian Macleay Street of Kenneth Slessor has oozed into the sludge of the criminal under-class. So the inner glass-half-full that is me, hummed with positivism during the week when I encountered
Jane Cooper Bennett, historical artist.Having seen my photographic record of the Victoria Street AIDS mural, Jane invited me along to the opening of her latest show in a public exhibition space within St Vincents hospital. She had been asked to record the streetscape of the immediate vicinity prior to the construction of the Kinghorn Cancer Centre. A plein-air historical artist and a photographic footpath flaneur espouse similar urban streetscape values. We trawl the delapidated inner city recording what exists before the wrecker's ball calls 'poof'.
There is a Heritage Fair on 25th February at the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh, during which Jane will be painting en-plein-air. Come along from 10am 'til 4pm. Watch her canvas tranform before your eyes. Experience the skill and artistry of the forgers of wrought iron. The past is gone, but not forgotten. We lament its passing, but celebrate its being.