Cirrus@Austlit

The Sempre Con Te exhibition is a combined visual and written socio-documentary of the Italian Migration to the Sydney Northern Beaches Area. The exhibition was held at The artRoom Upstairs Gallery on Manly Corso, 30 July to 27 August 2005. Written items include nine booklets of autobiographical narratives, one of which is available for viewing on the Sempre Con Te website.

According to the website,

The exhibition [...] sought to recreate an informal home

environment; the core being presented through two

separate rooms, the Before room (Senza Te, Without You)

and the After room (Con Te, With You).

'The Senza Te room represented the male living quarters before

the arrival of women and families. Dwellings were bare and

devoid of the female touch.

[...]

'In contrast, the Con Te room represented life after the arrival of

the women. This room was warm, welcoming and tactile. It

contained four large panels of framed photographs and

accompanying captions telling stories of Italo-Australian life. The

images depicted not only family reunions but also how the

community adapted its lifestyle and traditions into the Northern

Beaches. Others were a record of migrant shops that no longer

exist and of the local area that once was.'

2006

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2006

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