The Lido Bistro: 8 portraits (1989) – FESCH.TV

The Lido Bistro: 8 portraits (1989) & FESCH.TV:

This fotofilm compiles video portraits of eight sets of people who were regular customers of the Lido Bistro, an eatery and bar in the Belconnen Mall. The Belconnen Mall is the largest shopping centre in Belconnen, a district on the north-west of Australia’s national capital, Canberra. Now known as the Lido Cafe, this business has operated continuously in the same location since the mall opened in 1978. The photographs were taken at the Lido in 1989. On one of their visits a week or two after the photo shoot, the subjects penned a message on their photographs in their own handwriting (those photographs can be seen at the end of each sequence). The conversation started off with their musings on the Lido itself, but they were free to go wherever they liked so long as they maintained a focus on themselves. The decision over what to write provoked deep thought and more than some anxiety. Of no less importance was the handwriting itself with most making a great effort to keep it neat and to avoid mistakes. The messages took much longer to complete than the photographs took to shoot. Curiously, where people were nonchalant about donating their images, they had real qualms about the writing, as though their messages had more scope to reveal something that they would prefer to keep hidden. Clearly, some people were more guarded than others but their messages are no less telling. Despite the differences in approach taken by each subject, the messages add a depth and intimacy to the images, transforming the final products into a set of self-portraits.

The original photographs were first shown publicly as part „Scenes From The Mall“, an exhibition of portraits made in the Belconnen Mall in 1989-90. The exhibition took place between December 2023 and February 2024 at the Belconnen Arts Centre, very near where the pictures were made.

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Music credits (video sequence /composer /title /platform):

0 intro/outro /Twinfang /Slow Piano Chords with High Notes /FreeSound
1 Shirley & David /Rasputin /Adagio Synth Progression /Looperman
2 Ron /Tim Kahn /hilldcrd /FreeSound
3 Mark & Sheldon /derekloops /The NBHD /Looperman
4 Pat /ERH /choral strings sbhnmr b2 11 /FreeSound
5 Fred /Tim Kahn /tren /FreeSound
6 Pat C. /Arulo Aerobic Fashion (edit) /MixKit
7 Geoff & Sue /Ulises Conti /25 de septiembre /n-a
8 Harry & Pauline /RealNorth /Sapcebound Huge Piano Melody /Looperman