Jackie Green

YOU HAD TO BE THERE

You Had To Be There is a nostalgic celebration of Frankston, told through the places, signs, sounds and small pieces of ephemera that have become part of its collective memory.

Drawing inspiration from vintage Frankston train tickets, old signage, surf culture, Australian music posters and legendary local venues including 21st Century Dance Club and The Grand Hotel, home of Leggies, Jackie Green transforms familiar fragments of the past into bold contemporary artworks.

At the centre of the exhibition is the idea of the ticket: a tiny object that once granted entry to somewhere, but decades later can become a portal back to a time, a place and a feeling.

A Saturday night at 21st Century. The revolving dance floor. A Thursday night at Leggies. A tequila sunrise. Summer at the beach. Live music. The train into Frankston and, perhaps, the last train home.

Green draws on the visual language of vintage admission tickets, gig posters and Australian surf culture, reimagining them through solid colour, hand-painted typography, graphic forms and her distinctive contemporary style.

Some memories are shared by a generation. Others belong only to the person who was there.

Buildings change. Signs disappear. Dance floors stop turning.

But the memories remain.

YOU HAD TO BE THERE.

_{Image: Jackie Green, In Studio}