19 to 31 July 2006
The exhibition features a range of artefacts from the collection, plus an audio-visual that is a homage to Melbourne's (changing) coat of arms since the 1840s.
A curatorial and creative approach to heraldry of local government
The marks or symbols used to authenticate something are many and various. For people of the Kulin nation, certain animals were used as totems to distinguish different groups. In the European tradition, Scottish people have fauna and flora totems as clan membership symbols.
Symbols can take many forms. Just as we know our football teams by the colours the players wear, so the business of Melbourne as a corporation is authenticated by the use of its 'armorial bearings', or arms. Emblems of this kind have been especially designed to stand for and make authentic the family or company to which they were granted. The design of arms is the business of heraldry, the study and granting of crests and shields.
Curated by Marcos Davidson
Curator Marcos Davidson is a jeweller who has been working in Melbourne since the 1970s. He has exhibited his work in Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan, as well as here in Melbourne at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Marcos also has a fascination for collections, evident here in his use of the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection. Ishmael Smedhurst assisted with some decorative elements of the exhibition and the catalogue and exhibition text were written by Dr Gary Presland.