Australia’s disappearing milk bars captured on camera.
Artist: Eamon Donnelly
This artwork was temporary and is no longer at this location.
Artwork description
The milk bar is fast disappearing from Sydney streets but award-winning artist and self-confessed milk bar junkie Eamon Donnelly is keeping its memory alive on banners for this year’s Art & About Sydney.
Donnelly has been capturing Australia’s disappearing milk bars on camera for more than a decade as part of The Island Continent digital gallery and archive. The project has taken him to more than 200 milk bars and resulted in thousands of images of fading signs, dusty shelves, paper straws and metal cups.
100 of these images will be displayed on 500 of the City of Sydney’s banner poles usually reserved for advertising – forming Art & About’s popular Banner Gallery. It will line George, William, Oxford and Redfern streets, as well as Martin Place and Glebe Point Road. A selection of 20 large-scale images will also be on display at World Square.
Sydneysiders can also join Art & About creative director Gill Minervini as she leads a panel discussion on Australian milk bars at 2pm on Saturday 11 October at Customs House Library. The discussion will explore the history of the milk bar in Australia with Eamon Donnelly and City of Sydney historian Dr Lisa Murray.
Art & About Sydney
Celebrating our city’s creativity and imagination.
