Good Street Gift Exchange
Thoroughfare exhibition curated by Victoria Johnson and John Kirkman
Good Street, Granville
We started with a bunch of flowers and herbs from our garden at home.
A contemporary portrait of Good Street, the people, the businesses and organisations that call it home. An exploration of the threads of exchange and reciprocity that cut across all our lives. As a series of randomised, non-monetary exchanges, the gift exchange draws a fictional thread through a group of diverse individuals seemingly connected only by their location on Good Street, Granville.
We approached each business on the street and invited them to join the gift exchange. We showed them the gift they would receive and if they chose to participate we asked them to select something from their shop to gift to the next shop we would visit. The givers were never told who would receive their gift or who had given the gift that they received.
Each giver was photographed with the gift they had received and the gift they were giving. These portraits were exhibited in a vacant property on the street as a series of eight photographic portraits which, taken together, form a chain of exchange.
The final gift was a pineapple which was served at the exhibition.
