
Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.

Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.

Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.

Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.

Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.
In the 1950s rock and roll music was carried on a wave from the United States to Britain and across to Australia, bringing with it a new way of dressing, new social mores and spurning a breakaway generation that is now known as adolescence. The exuberance and dazzling vibrancy of the 1950s followed the dourness, parental authoritarianism and austerity of three great disasters of the 20th century, the Great Depression and two World Wars, and represented nothing short of a cultural revolution. At the turn of the 21st century there are those for whom the 50s have never died. They are mainly but not exclusively rockabillies; a subculture of Australian cities that live and breathe an era that predates their earliest birthdays. These are not old time rockers who dress for a once a week Friday night RSL dance. These boys dress for cool; stove pipe jeans and slick quiffs; the women in dazzling cocktail frocks by night and bobby socks by day. It is an odd juxtaposition with the glam, seductiveness and glitz of a town like Sydney.

Post War Retro, courtesy the artist.
Exhibited in CCP's Night Projection Window
7 nights a week after dark
Centre for Contemporary Photography
404 George St, Fitzroy Victoria 3065, Australia
info@ccp.org.au
+61 39417 1549
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Gallery Hours
Wednesday—Sunday
11am—5pm
Seven nights after dark