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SONGS FROM NORTHAM AVENUE - LYNDAL IRONS

Images by documentary photographer Lyndal Irons, begun during sessions for the cover art for Songs From Northam Avenue the album, continued to a wider series on moments and portraits made in Bankstown


This exhibition will be taking place in conjunction with Songs From Northam Avenue, Created by Toby Martin, a special concert inspired by the residents of Bankstown.

As part of an Urban Theatre Projects artist residency in 2013, Martin was invited to write songs on residents’ front verandahs and nature strips along Northam Avenue in Bankstown. A year later, he returned to finish a collection of songs inspired by the people he met, which he performed accompanied by band of local musicians as part of BANKSTOWN:LIVE for Sydney FestivalThe resulting album, Songs From Northam Avenue, was released by Ivy League records in February 2017 and met with great acclaim, with 4.5 stars from Rolling Stone and 5 stars from The Music.com.

An Inner West local, Martin came to Bankstown as a relative outsider, although his father’s family lived there for a few years when they first migrated to Australia in 1948 after World War II. He relished the opportunity to collaborate with local residents, many of them first generation immigrants to Australia, who contributed musical influences from their native homelands.


Image credit: Lyndal Irons, Paul, Bankstown.