Free Patti Smith exhibitions here in Melbourne

Patti Smith expo at Anna Schwarz Gallery.

Photo of Patti Smith performing in 'Cowboy Mouth' the play she wrote with Sam Shepard.

Anna Schwartz Gallery

LAND250
Australian Premiere
Patti Smith began to take photographs in 1967 for use in collages. In 1995, she returned to
photography: “The immediacy of the process was a relief from the long involved process of
drawing, recording or writing a poem.” Many of her photographs embody significant personal
meaning, others serve as a visual record of her well-travelled life. This exhibition is a rare
collection of her photographic work.

THE CORAL SEA
Australian Premiere
The Festival presents Patti Smith’s installation The Coral Sea, which includes photographs by
her longtime collaborator and friend, Robert Mapplethorpe. These installation works include
visual records comprising very personal artifacts and objects – offerings from her life.
5 photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe with text by Patti Smith
Film: Jem Cohen
Guitar: Kevin Shields
Production: Stefan Righi
The Coral Sea is on loan from the Fondation Cartier, Paris.
Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs appear courtesy of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, New York City.

THE INFIRMARY

MELBOURNELAND
World Premiere
While in Melbourne, Smith will create a place-specific project, Melbourneland, especially for the Festival.
Responding to her surroundings she will create a unique record of Melbourne with an accumulation of
images added to Anna Schwartz Gallery each day.As part of its Patti Smith residency, the Festival presents an exhibition of her photographic work drawn from pieces created between 1967 and 2007, offering audiences a rare opportunity to explore the photography of the punk poetress.

Patti Smith began to take photographs in 1967 for use in collages. In 1995, she returned to photography, using a vintage Polaroid Land 250, and found solace in the creative expression of the artform when she was grief-stricken at the untimely loss of her husband, her brother and some of her dearest friends. "The immediacy of the process was a relief from the long involved process of drawing, recording, or writing a poem."

Many of Smith's photographs, which she refers to as, ‘relics of my life … souvenirs of my wanderings”, embody significant personal meaning: Robert Mapplethorpe's slippers, Virginia Woolf's bed, Hermann Hesse's typewriter and Arthur Rimbaud's utensils. Others serve as a visual record of her well-travelled life.

Patti Smith: Photography & Installation
Anna Schwartz Gallery, Flinders Lane, Melbourne city
Thu 9 Oct – Sat 25 Oct

Centre of Contemporary Photography

Objects of Life is a fascinating exhibition of photographs, objects and video inspired by Steven Sebring's time with Patti Smith during the filming of their extraordinary documentary Dream of Life. During the 11 years of filming, Sebring became increasingly interested in the history and mythology behind the possessions and personal treasures that Smith shared in the film's most intimate moments. It resulted in the desire to return to his roots as photographer and to recontextualise the sacred and the commonplace through his camera lens. Objects of Life consists of 14 large-scale photographs taken by Sebring. This collection ranges from Smith's childhood dress to an ancient urn containing the remains of Smith's close friend and collaborator Robert Mapplethorpe, to black leather boots that have stomped around the world and a video installation of Smith in the course of creating an art piece. The exhibition also includes a rare oil painting by Smith, her largest and most recent work to date. Also featured is a private collection of personal belongings from both artists whose collaboration is grounded by their relationship to the film and to their individual personal experiences.

Objects of Life
Centre of Contemporary Photography, 404 George Street, Fitzroy
Fri 12 Sept – Sat 25 Oct