Known for his ‘Jane Doe’ paintings of beautiful women, which examine the tension “between beauty and decay”, Rone – an internationally renowned street artist based in Melbourne, Australia – has been creating immersive art installations in abandoned buildings since 2016.
His latest exhibition, Time, took over the long-abandoned third floor of Flinders Street Station in Melbourne from October 2022 to April 2023. “When I go into abandoned spaces, it’s what’s left behind that tells the story,” he says. “Time tells many stories, through objects, through sound, and through the character of the existing building.”
The theme of this issue is ‘reclaiming the lost’ – what does that mean to you?
Reclaiming the lost for me is very much what I’m doing with these buildings, finding these disused or abandoned spaces and bringing back an emotion into them, and highlighting the beauty within the fragility of what’s left.
It’s truly incredible to witness the impact my installations have on people who visit these spaces. Hearing the genuine stories that are sparked by the environment, witnessing the personal connections formed within the spaces I’ve worked with, it never fails to fascinate me.
These memories, sparked by my art, become a powerful tool in reclaiming what was once forgotten, allowing us to reconnect with what has been lost.