Melbourne’s history of coffee culture will take centre stage in an exhibition held on Lygon Street in November, with Melbourne Through the Coffee Cup set to run between 9 to 30 November at Coffee Machine Technologies.
Located in Carlton, the exhibition will feature images from photographer Peter Casamento and words by writer Sandra Makris to tell the story of Melbourne’s obsession with coffee – both from a ritualistic and cultural standpoint.
Peter and Sandra amassed more than 20,000 images of people in and around Melbourne as part of the exhibition, which was initially meant to be published as a book on coffee culture. This exhibition will reveal them to the public for the first time.
Portraits and documentary images pay tribute to Carlton’s early coffee trail blazers alongside images of contemporary café and street scenes.
The official opening of the exhibition will then move onto Cinema Nova for a special screening of Lygon Street: Si Parla Italiano on 9 November, a documentary exploring Carlton’s post-war Italian community and its role in introducing espresso to Melbourne. It is narrated by Anthony LaPaglia.
Tickets to the screening are available here.
One wall of Coffee Machine Technologies will be dedicated to Carlton trail blazers of Melbourne’s coffee culture due to Carlton’s significant contributions to the evolution of coffee in the city.
Peter says “our aim is to capture the essence and spirit of a community bound through ritual and obsession to coffee”, while Sandra says the exhibition is a tribute to Melbourne’s coffee pioneers and coffee’s “language of connection, creativity, and belonging”.
The exhibition has also been selected for inclusion Sydney’s Head on Photo Festival, where it is one of 12 Victorian projects involved.
Melbourne Through the Coffee Cup
Dates: 9-30 November 2025,
Location: Coffee Machine Technologies, 285 Lygon Street, Carlton VIC 3053
