The Green Bus gathers 55 of Andrew Chapman's photographs at City Gallery in Melbourne, one for each year he has spent documenting Melbourne.
The Green Bus turns 55 years of Melbourne street photography into a free show at City Gallery this spring.
Curated by Chapman himself, The Green Bus gathers one image for every one of the 55 years Andrew Chapman has spent watching the city since 1971. The title nods to the green buses that once ran from Elsternwick into town, ferrying a young Chapman and his camera on the trips that sparked a lifelong habit of paying close attention to Melbourne.
The Green Bus
- Where: City Gallery, Melbourne Town Hall, 110 Swanston Street
- When: 3 September 2026 – 19 February 2027, weekdays 8:30am – 5pm
- Cost: Free
- Curator talk: Andrew Chapman in conversation, midday, 5 September
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The exhibition arrives on the back of the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection acquiring a sizeable slice of Chapman’s archive.
Lord Mayor Nick Reece has framed the images as a striking visual record of the city: “These remarkable images, beautifully captured by Andrew, offer a vivid snapshot of Melbourne through time.”
“They are both iconic and deeply evocative, taking us on a journey through the evolution of our city. Preserved for future generations, this extraordinary visual record helps ensure the stories, people and places that have shaped Melbourne remain accessible and celebrated for years to come.”
Small grains of certainty
Rather than leaning on nostalgia, Chapman’s frames track shifting streetscapes, changing communities and the everyday rituals of public life. There’s a Moomba crowd perched on a Swanston Street awning in 1987, a demonstrator on Bourke Street in the mid-1970s, a girl at a Russell Street phone booth in the 1990s, and quieter moments that ask how a city keeps hold of its own memory.
Chapman has talked about the show as a set of honest markers in a post-truth, AI-shaped world, small grains of certainty worth holding onto.
Born in Melbourne, Chapman studied at Prahran College before starting out as a news photographer in 1978, and has since spent close to six decades on assignments spanning politics, rural life, the wool industry and beyond. He is the author of 10 photographic books. A catalogue with a new essay by curator Stella Loftus-Hills accompanies the run, and Chapman will dig into the work during his curator talk at midday on 5 September.
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