A familiar exhibition

The beauty of small towns is that everyone knows everyone.

And that’s exactly the concept of Perth artist Alastair Taylor’s exhibition visiting Collie next Friday.

Mr Taylor spent months wandering the streets of the South West coal mining town asking to paint portraits of complete strangers.

From a train driver, to the Woolworths trolley boys, to Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray.

Mr Taylor said he guaranteed people visiting the Collie Art Gallery would know some of the people featured in the 56 portraits displayed.

“I didn’t just want it to be the great and the good, I wanted all sorts of people in the streets, the pub, wherever,” he said.

He said while he hoped his portraits were interesting enough for people to want to view, it was not always the case.

Unlike the six degrees of separation theory, Mr Taylor said places like Collie only had two degrees of separation.

“The whole idea is that anyone in Collie can go in there and see half a dozen people they recognise.”

The exhibition, 0.76 per cent – Portraits of a Population, opens on December 6.