I’m writing an article. Prompted by gaps in knowledge that must be filled to write said article, I pootled into town today to the State Library with the Curmudgeon.
It might just be the City of Melbourne’s marketing campaigns, but any time I go to the SLV I fall in love with Melbourne a little harder. That building – that resource – is just extraordinary. And packed with people of a Sunday. I circled the floor looking for a seat – a security guard took pity on me and recommended the magazine room at the back – where I found one little armchair. Otherwise desks were occupied and piled high. This is a good thing.
I get greedy in the library. I head to a section that interests me and I find so many books I want to read. I grab armfulls (armsfull?) of volumes and suck up facts and knowledge and stories and references. Delicious.
SLV reliably has some ripper exhibitions. The current one, As modern as tomorrow, has lovely, lovely modernist photos. There’s one from a photography brochure where lass clearly has made a lascivious suggestion to the young man who is kindly showing her the secrets of the darkroom. I think she understands quite a bit about chemistry already.
Dacre Stubbs, Printing equipment, Kodak Australasia, c 1951, gift of Martin Stubbs, 2005
