Vic Street Gallery

Slipping through the North Rotunda entrance of the State Library of Victoria on Swanston Street, you find yourself in the Vic Street Gallery. This isn’t just another exhibition space. The Vic Street Gallery, a gift from the John and Myriam Wylie Foundation, pulsates with the spirit of Victoria. Its stories shift and change annually. Each visit offers a fresh perspective, a new immersion into Victoria’s rich tapestry. The Vic Street Gallery opened in 2019, a key part of the Library’s Vision 2020 redevelopment. But the space itself echoes with a much older history. Imagine, in 1892, this grand hall housed the National Gallery of Victoria. It remained their home until 1968. Then, the ethnographic collection of the Melbourne Museum moved in, staying until around 1999. After that, the space became staff work areas for the Library, before transforming into the vibrant Vic Street Gallery we experience today. From bushrangers to cricket, fairy floss to velvet cloaks, the inaugural exhibition “Velvet, Iron, Ashes” in the Vic Street Gallery wove unexpected connections. Later, the gallery showcased poignant photographs documenting life in regional Victoria during 2020, in the “Window on Collections” exhibit. The Vic Street Gallery then explored the boundless creativity of “Handmade Universe: From craft to code and the spaces between”. Currently, the Vic Street Gallery invites you to explore “Melbourne Out Loud: Life through the lens of Rennie Ellis”. Discover iconic and unseen glimpses of Melbourne life captured by one of the city’s greatest chroniclers. The Vic Street Gallery is more than just a space. It’s a portal, connecting you to Victoria’s vibrant past and present.