Urban Canvas

BEYOND THE FESTIVAL SEASON, LATHA ANANTHARAMAN FINDS A FLOURISHING ART SCENE IN THE NOOKS AND CRANNIES OF SYDNEY

- Latha Anantharaman

Sydney is an art-inspired city at any time. Along its tree-lined streets you see the architecture close up, whether it harks back to colonial European roots, or salutes the golden sandstone and splendid light of the coast, or defies history and gravity to spiral up to the skies. Every plate of food is a visual composition. The pedestrians all seem to be on their way to a Vogue shoot. But they’re warmly stylish, chiefly intent on living and sharing the good life in a city rich in broad plazas, open beaches and everyday art.

Not far from Customs House, the city’s oldest building, is the spot where the first convict ships landed and their passengers crawled up the slope, sick from their long months at sea. The area now gleams with hotels and cafés casting their reflections on the water. Every year, the neighbourhood breaks out in light installations for three weeks during the Vivid Sydney festival. When the lights first go on, the sails of the Opera House become a screen for moving images lit up against a black sky. Boats glitter to and fro, and one by one the buildings around the harbour sparkle, video vignettes running across their façades.