Ode to Sydney – Art, Literature, and Kenneth Slessor’s ‘Five Bells’

Elaine Campaner – Breakfast in Sydney, 2009, digital print on 100% cotton paper, 553 x 830 mm, edition of 10. Courtesy Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern.

Arts Monday’s Jane Raffan chats with Damian Minton (Watters Gallery) about art, poetry and literature specifically focused on Sydney, in the exhibition Five Bells – a Visual Ode to Sydney – staged at his former eponymous gallery.

Taking cues from Kenneth Slessor’s poem – voted Australia’s best poem by ABC listeners in 1988 – the exhibition featured works by forty artists across a range of media and styles, offering the chance to reflect on a Sydney many of us may not recognise.

Kenneth Slessor’s famous poem can be found here: https://treasure-explorer.nla.gov.au/closerlook/slessors-five-bells