THE ARTIST

Larry Jenkins, aka Bill Sharp No. 1, is the photographer responsible for the now infamous “Sharpie” photos recently exhibited at ACMI / Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

Larry was the leader of the notorious street gang the “BLACKBURN SOUTH SHARPS" from 1972-1977 when the Sharpie sub-culture was at its peak and the working class suburbs of Melbourne were a tough and violent place to grow up. These photographs represent a period from 1975-1976 in Australian sub-cultural history and are one of the few photographic records of that time. Larry began taking photos at the age of 16 using a pocket camera, when he started working as an apprentice motor mechanic and spent his weekly wage developing his shots.

Jenkins photographic style was influenced by Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood. Larry and his gang used to walk to the local Burwood drive-in and watch the highly popular cult hero on the large outdoor screen from a creek just outside the
drive-in's fence where they could just hear the sound. They were too young to own a car
or a driver's license and couldn’t afford a ticket to enter. Other movies to influence Jenkins were Street Fighter starring Charles Bronson, Mean Machine with Burt Reynolds and all of the Bruce Lee films.

From these films, Larry developed a sound knowledge of composition and subject matter. He captured fleeting moments, candid shots and directed his teenage mates through elaborate poses set against the immediate Australian suburban backdrops.

Shops, billboards, brick houses, backyard swimming pools, garages and Ford or GM cars were all common themes as Jenkins made his mundane world look exciting through the lens of his camera, utilizing scale, angles and the imposing figures of his gang.

THE FASHION

“Sharps” or “Sharpies” had a unique identity and style of their own and a rebellious attitude was synonymous with being a Sharp. They defined themselves by the clothes they wore, the bands they followed and their unusual hair style, clipped short all over, leaving rat tails at the back that were usually bleached blonde. “Sharps” wore custom designed striped cardigans made by local knitters "Sams" and "Conte".

They also wore hand made leather shoes which had a chisel toe with a Cuban heel. Another design was the platform shoe with a round toe, all made to specification by local boot makers "Venus" and "Acropolis".

Sharpies wore T-shirts with their suburb proudly printed on the back using iron on letters and their "Lee" or "Levi" jeans had to be short enough to show their mandatory "black socks".

One of the ground breaking characteristics of “Sharps” was that they were the first men in Australia to pierce their ears and wear earrings. Usually the left ear only, some had both ears pierced or two in the left and one in the right. The Art world and the Fashion world in Australia are both fascinated by this unique Melbourne sub-culture as it was the first and only time in Australian history when street fashion was not influenced by overseas trends.

THE MUSIC

Sharpie Gangs followed Australian bands such as Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and AC/DC who played hard rock and had a street ethos in their lyrics that the adolescent “Sharps” could relate to. English bands such as Slade, Gary Glitter and David Bowie were also popular with the "Sharps".

There was an expectation of danger surrounding Sharpies as there was a Sharpie gang at every group of shops in every working class suburb and each had their own territory which they protected vigilantly. Gang warfare was commonplace and travelling by train could be a ride to hell! It was a very macho period in Australian history and a violent world to grow up in and many "Sharpies" practised Karate and used nunchakus as Bruce Lee was an icon of the time.

WHERE IT’S BEEN

Jenkins photos were first seen by the public in an exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney which ran from 28th Nov 2001 - 3rd March 2002. Seen by over 30,000 patrons, it was such a success that the Museum arranged a tour around Australia. The collection was exhibited at prominent galleries such as the Gertrude St Gallery in Melbourne, the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, Blacktown Arts Centre in NSW & the Albury Regional Art Gallery. The tour finished in September 2003.

Jenkins and Peter Robertson, the presenter and fellow gang member, did several press interviews for the major newspapers “The Sun” and “The Age”, and magazine “The Bulletin” as well as radio interviews for stations Triple JJJ FM and Triple RRR FM. The media have now embraced the once maligned “Sharpie” sub-culture as the exhibitions have been extremely popular with today's Australian youth.

The ABC television network produced and aired a Sharpie documentary featuring an interview with Jenkins as well as featuring his photographs on their website. Also included on the website are print and TV interviews with the artist.

To go to the ABC's Sharpie feature: click here

At the end of 2003 Larry was approached by the Australian Centre of Moving Image to be involved in their Resistance Program for the 2004 Australia Day celebration of sub-cultures in Australia where his photographs were featured. The Federation Square Exhibition was initially programmed to run for a fortnight, but was so successful that ACMI extended it for a further three months due to public response; finally finishing at the end of April.

As part of the ACMI exhibition a short documentary was made by Director Rebecca McLean, entitled “Suburban Warriors” featuring Larry Jenkins, Lobby Loyde and other ex "Sharpies" commenting on the times. This was screened in the ACMI Cinema as part of the opening.

In March 2007 the BLACKBURN SOUTH SHARPS were name checked on an episode of the long running Australian TV series NEIGHBOURS - also AUSTRALIAN IDOL top three contestant Carl Reisling wore a BLACKBURN SOUTH SHARPS T-shirt on the hit TV show in September 2007.

VICTORIAN STATE LIBRARY EXHIBITION
State Library Of Victoria - Melbourne, Australia.
Dome Gallery
14th December 2006 - December 2007

BERLIN EXHIBITION
Australian Embassy - Berlin, Germany.
8th September - 20th October 2005

To see live footage of Sharpies... check out Larry Jenkins' Artifact video here on YOUTUBE.
YOUTUBE features links to other related videos.

To contact the artist - email: billsharp1@blackburnsouthsharps.com