Desmond, man of Jesus 1992

Summary

This photograph of Christian evangelist Desmond Hynes captures him in Bourke Street, adorned by his handmade signs promoting his love for Jesus. Hynes was a striking and memorable figure on the streets of Melbourne for three decades. With eye-catching shopping trollies painted with Jesus slogans, Hynes used the combined visual power of art and advertising to spread the word, exploiting advertising's effectiveness while retaining the humanness of the handmade and the immediacy of the everyday.

The photographer, Viva Gibb (1945-2017), was a Melbourne-based artist and self-taught social documentary photographer. Undergirded by strong sociopolitical beliefs and a deep interest in the human condition, Gibb's sympathetic portraits evince the practice of an artist who was deeply engaged in the world around her. In this photo, Hynes is captured with Gibb's dog, Pirate.

The image was acquired by the Art and Heritage Collection after it was featured in an exhibition titled 'The Jesus Trolley', held at City Gallery in 2016, which brought together works from Hynes' huge outpouring, reframing it as outsider art.