The Solace of Stories

This exhibition chronicles the experience of a small, independent bookshop in Sorrento, Victoria over the Covid-19 lockdown period. Collating text messages, Instagram posts, books, photographs, and digital art creations, the exhibition uses both digital and non-digital forms to demonstrate the ways in which a regional bookshop continued to support the local community from behind closed doors, and in turn, how that community supported them back.

Stories have been one of the major lifelines for people isolating during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the unavoidable increase of screen use at the peak of the virus, when we could only see our friends and families and colleagues online, many of us turned to books as welcome respite from the digital world. Books and reading, then, become a symbol of hope and solace, having nurtured humanity in times of crisis for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Exhibit 1. Before, during, after

A collage of photographs depicting the changing operations of Antipodes before, during and after the lockdown period. Before lockdown, we held multiple events for locals, including story time and author in-conversation nights. During lockdown, we processed hundreds of customer special orders and deliveries, upgraded our point of sale system, and completed a massive stocktake of the store. After lockdown, we all worked incredibly hard to clean up the store and welcome customers back, albeit with social distancing restrictions.

Exhibit 2. Support from behind the closed doors

Collage of the owner Jane McAuliffe’s family helping her behind the scenes in the shop, a collage of debut children’s author Danielle Binks coming to sign books while the shop was closed, and a collage of staff social-distancing while working to complete stocktake and process an excess in customer orders.

Exhibit 3. Charlie’s iso reads

Photographs of Antipodes bookseller Charlie’s reading picks during lockdown. She decided it was finally time to read the old, battered copy of Jane Eyre that she’d owned since highschool, but never read all the way through. This exhibit includes the physical copy of Jane Eyre, enabling a tactile element to this exhibit. Visitors are encouraged to open up the book, smell its mustiness, turn its frayed pages.

Exhibit 4. Deliveries, deliveries, deliveries

During lockdown, Antipodes offered free delivery for local customers. Antipodes staff and their families volunteered to deliver books in their free time to support a community in isolation.