I really enjoyed this exhibition about the Devonshire Street Cemetery which was removed to make way for the construction of Central Station. ‘Dead Central‘ (nice title) was a really nice size and a cross between an exhibition and a podcast. My interest in the subject matter was particularly peaked by the fact that I’d visited the Eastern Suburbs Cemetery the day before which was one of the final locations of the remains that were removed from the Central Station site.
There were plenty of nice ‘museumy’ features. Nice big easy instructions about how to link to the exhibition audio. The diagrams beside the panoramas and views did a terrific job of helping viewers identify what they were looking at and even though I can read cursive handwriting always happy to have a typed version to skin!
One of my favourite sections was the video room where you got to see footage of the ‘ghost station’ and photographs and information created by Mr and Mrs Foster over two years before the cemetery was removed. The display of material in gravestone shaped frames was really affective.
The art installation part way through the exhibition didn’t work for me, a large covered mirror but appreciated the attempt. I also liked the atmosphere that was created and even though it was dimly lit captions were clear. They also ticked boxes with diverse content that incorporated women, children and indigenous Australian stories and the large print version of the audio good for everyone to have access it.
The State Library of NSW has been putting on some really great exhibitions. Will definitely be back.
Visited: September 2019
Sophie Couchman 