Collective Isolation Project, week 16: Furry companions
As Victoria bunkers down for six weeks of lockdown, we're starting to wonder: who's the boss around here?
Maybe it's your dog, taking over the couch like he's waiting for the midday movie. Perhaps it's your cat, moulting over your keyboard as she stalks across your desk – letting you know where your attention should be paid.
Or is it the chickens, turning your lawn into a dirt bath in exchange for a daily dose of protein?
Our devoted pets have always been there for us 24/7. Lockdown has levelled the playing field and now we too are there for them, around the clock.
This week, share your pet pictures and tell us how has your relationship with your pet(s) has changed during lockdown.
Share your response at our Facebook Memory Bank group and tag us with #SLVMemoryBank.
About this image
This 1940s snapshot of arts patron Sunday Reed holding one of her dogs, husband John Reed beside her, was taken by their friend Albert Tucker.
The Reeds lived at Heide (now the Heide Museum of Modern Art) in Bulleen, where they cultivated friendships with and sponsorship of many contemporary artists. They also began extensive tree, flower and vegetable plantings in what would become a celebrated garden.
Over the years, many dogs lived at the property with the Reeds and actually, it was while walking John's dog Karel in 1934 that John and Sunday came across the Heide property – then a neglected dairy farm with a small weatherboard house.
The papers of John and Sunday Reed are a treasure trove of correspondence with and information about notable figures and events in Australian modernist art and literature, including Sidney Nolan, Joy Hester, the Angry Penguins and the Ern Malley hoax.
How to respond
Please feel welcome to respond as creatively or literally as you wish.
If you contribute, we may contact you to discuss collecting and using your images, stories, objects and experiences. We may not be able to accept everything, but we will endeavour to do so! With your permission, your contributions may be added to the State Collection or used in future Library programs.
About The Collective Isolation Project
The Collective Isolation Project aims to cement this current moment in history, and is our inaugural Memory Bank campaign.
Find out more about Memory Bank, including details about how to contribute each week.