Photographer Rennie Ellis (1940–2003) was a key figure in Australian visual culture. Ellis is best remembered for his effervescent observations of Australian life during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Rennie Ellis Show highlights some of the defining characters of Australian life during this period, including politicians, punk rockers, spiritual leaders and advocates of the sexual revolution.

The photographs in this exhibition explore the subcultures of the time, and take us back to a moment in our history when inner city housing was affordable, social protestors were optimistic and a sense of community could be achieved without the internet.

All the photographs in this exhibition have been drawn from the two Rennie Ellis award winning books Decade:1970-1980 and Decadent:1980-2000

Head On Photo Festival, Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive, and Mossgreen Gallery are pleased to showcase Kings Cross 1970-1971: Rennie Ellis, an exhibition of Rennie Ellis’ photographic observation of life in the infamous Kings Cross during the summer of 1970-71.

Kings Cross remains a place of intrigue… as Ellis wrote in the book, Kings Cross Sydney, by Rennie Ellis and Wesley Stacey - “It has a pulse rate and a lifestyle unlike anywhere else in Australia”.