Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Jenny Valentish

How kitsch became cool: Australiana exhibition celebrates Dame Edna, Ken Done and melted ice-creams

Kenny Pittock, Melted Bubble’O 2020, synthetic polymer paint on ceramic. Courtesy of the artist Kenny Pittock and MARS Gallery
Kenny Pittock’s ‘Melted Bubble’O’, 2020, synthetic polymer paint on ceramic. Photograph: Kenny Pittock and MARS Gallery

Jenny Kee worries out loud that we’ve got off on the wrong foot. I had expressed wonder at the fact that, as a teenage rebel in the late-60s, she had walked into the boutique Biba, the bullseye of London’s fashion and music scene, and got a job. When I ask if that was by accident or design, she is indignant.

“Nothing was by accident!” she says. “We were starved for action in Australia and we just wanted to get to the heart of everything, with all our Aussie persuasion. That was what Australians did, because we were out in the convict colonies, as they said in London.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.