In the Dead of the Night

This illustration commissioned by WestWords in collaboration with NSW State Archives (SARA) and Sydney Living Museums (SLM) is for the A Thousand Words exhibition. The exhibition presents up to 100 of the most compelling photographic images from the SARA and SLM collections ranging from c. 1880 to c. 1980. These images presented are without any traditional museum interpretation. Instead, interpretation is sourced entirely from audience and community responses.

As part of the ‘community response’, I was invited by WestWords along with 9 Western Sydney young and emerging writers, spoken word artists and illustrators to create a response to one of the images selected for the exhibition. I chose an image of an old billboard advocating for noise reduction. I decided to illustrate a section of George Street in Sydney in the dead of the night when mysterious wonders come out to play. It is a simple, looped animation inspired by that time of the night when all is still in slumber. You wake to get ready for work. It’s not quite dark but not quite light yet, there’s still mist in the air, and a comforting quietness about you.

When I first started painting murals, I used to get this odd feeling of immense joy and gratitude to be able to do this kind of work, and it was always when I was driving to or from the site, at some ungodly hour. This illustration is a tribute to that feeling. All work available for viewing online at atwonline.com.au