You Are Here: Melbourne Memory-scapes

You Are Here engages with a collection of black-and-white aerial photographs of Melbourne/Naarm and its surrounds from the 1960s, curated by Angela Bailey. Originally used in mapping and surveying, in this context these photographs invite the viewer to explore the nuances of memory, place and connection, to locate themselves and establish their sense of belonging. We trace our memories to find ourselves here.

The striking photographs are in conversation with other items from the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection. Most notably, they are in happy tension with commissioned text works by Wergaia/Wemba Wemba poet Susie Anderson. Her words extend the exhibition’s consideration of the photographs as a visual technology that evokes memory traces and mental maps, delineating individual and collective stories of connection. Her words offer a counterpoint to the stark boundaries and hard structures that are imposed upon the landscape and evident in the photographs.