Dwelling in Time

 Having concentrated on observing Melbourne from above, Manning came to admire the cities varied architecture with its juxtaposition of historic and modern buildings. Buildings still in use today retain such a strong sense of history, like two times running in parallel. Fascinated by this sense of time standing still, Manning door knocked and wrote letters to obtain permission to work inside many important historic buildings. Among them were The Supreme Law Court, The City Baths, The Salvation Army Temple, St Michael’s Church, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Old Museum and State Library. It is easy to take for granted our surroundings and forget the generations that built and used these buildings before us, yet there are places that remain almost unchanged. Unknown to many is the existence and continued use of one remaining wing for public ablutions at the City Baths. Now unisex, to take a hot bath, you still walk down the original corridor and enter tiny individual cubicles each with their own claw foot bath and colored glass partitions.
In 1997 the resulting body of work was exhibited at the historic venue of The Old Treasury Building in Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC.