Christopher Zanko’s Regent series is currently on display as part of Edge City at Wollongong Art Gallery.
Featured works include Regent I–V (2024), a series of acrylic on wood relief carvings that reflect on the enduring presence of the Regent Theatre within Wollongong’s cultural memory.
Edge City explores suburbia as a shifting threshold between city and coast, domesticity and industry, bringing together works that consider how identity, aspiration and belonging are shaped through place. Within this context, Zanko’s series speaks to the intersections of permanence and decay, grandeur and neglect, drawing on both collective histories and personal recollections of the once-iconic cinema.
Revisiting the building after more than two decades, Zanko encountered traces of his own memories embedded within the theatre’s interiors. Through wood relief carving, the works evoke marks that cannot be undone, bringing into focus the emotional imprint of the Regent and its enduring role within the community’s shared landscape.
