Wallflowers: Reimagining Historical Interiors

History comes to life with digitally reconstructed wallpapers crafted by Digital Collections Catalyst, Anna Rowe. The artworks draw from images of historic Queensland interiors from the John Oxley Library collection and will be available to view on The Edge Screens throughout November.

About the exhibition

As an archaeologist and an interior designer, Anna Rowe is fascinated by photographs of historical interiors. They capture not only the styles and materials of their time, but also individual tastes, aspirations and everyday life for past generations. She is particularly intrigued by the wallpapers and other patterned finishes that are sometimes hiding in the background. What inspired them and how were they composed? What were their original colours and how would they look using various palettes?

‘Wallflowers: Reimagining Historical Interiors’ explores these questions and more using digitised photographs of late nineteenth and early twentieth century interiors from the John Oxley Library collection. These black and white images are a valuable record of past decorative schemes in Queensland, offering a glimpse of social and private spaces that have been invariably lost to time. The images displayed in this screen exhibition are based on historical images of ‘Rinaultrie’ in Toowoomba.

The exhibit will be on The Edge Screens throughout November.

You can read more about Anna's fellowship here.