Made in Callan Street

Our home studio (above) was once the thriving A. E. Harding & Sons shopfittings factory. For Made in Callan Street (an exhibition we mounted here in 2016) I created a set of fridge magnets entitled Magnetic Callan Street. The 36 magnets – one for each house in our street – were given to the occupants at the end of the show. Our exhibition featured around 50 works by artists who’ve lived in Callan St or very nearby (including the renowned Australian contemporary artists Imants Tillers and Ian Burn, and children’s book creator Jeannie Baker). The show also celebrated elders and industries with a lived connection to our street and its Iron Cove surrounds, and included an abundant cache of historical invoices from the factory’s heyday. I also made a short video capturing Callan Street on an early evening walk which you can watch below.

The project’s research and publication was supported by a Leichhardt Council Local History Grant (2007-16) and the exhibition formed part of LOST - Leichhardt (now Inner West Council) Open Studio Trail. The catalogue of the show has been available free of charge on the State Library of NSW Indyreads platform since February 2024 .

An extensive e-catalogue is available here.