Christ in Melbourne 1995,
A Melbourne Passion 2001 & After the Passion 2006

Works from the ‘Jesus in Melbourne’ Collection, (incorporating ‘The Christ in Melbourne Suite’, 1995, ‘A Melbourne Passion Suite’, 2001, ‘After the Passion’, 2006, and more recent works).

An ongoing project of monoprints* by Michael Donnelly that asks: What would it be like, how would we act, and would we respond, if Jesus’ ministry occurred now - in contemporary Melbourne?

Could Jesus suffer His Passion in contemporary Melbourne? Jesus being cheered into Melbourne along Swanston Street, or weeping over the city from the top of the Westgate Bridge? Jesus addressing the MCG football crowds and holding His Last Supper at a Prahran Pub? Jesus arrested in the Royal Botanic Gardens and Crucified at Chadstone Shopping Centre? Would he celebrate his Resurrection on the beach at Elwood?

These are some of the possibilities that arise when Michael asks what it would be like if Jesus lived in twenty-first century Melbourne, just like us. Who would Jesus be today? Who would he associate with? How would he be treated? Who are Christ’s friends now?

Michael located the Christ story in the Melbourne he has grown to love, just as the Australian painter Arthur Boyd had done 70 years earlier or as Stanley Spencer had done with his village of Cookham in England. The first group of prints was exhibited as the ‘Christ in Melbourne’ series in 1995 at St Johns Southgate, with one of the monoprints selected to tour the United States in an exhibition of contemporary images of Christ called ‘Jesus 2000’. The Passion suite was first shown at the St Francis Pastoral Centre in 2001.

*A monoprint, or monotype, is a ‘one-off’ print made from ink worked over a smooth plate onto paper - either by running the plate through a printing press or rubbing on the back of the paper by hand. With the Jesus in Melbourne prints, a copper plate was rolled up with etching ink, and brushes, rags and cotton buds were used to create the images in the ink and the plate was printed on an etching press. It is a spontaneous, immediate process demanding quick, heartfelt responses. Therefore, Michael believes these rich black & white prints represent a veracity in the moment that nonetheless contains two-thousand-year-old truths.