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Melbourne's turbulent relationship with taxi cabs and their drivers is explored in an exhibition at City Gallery.
Hello Yellow traces a history from the present day back to 1909, when Melbourne became the first Australian city to introduce the motorised taxi.
Curator Christine Eid told 774 ABC Melbourne's Red Symons that the exhibition "considers the human relationship between taxi drivers and passengers".
"It's such a fragile interaction between a driver and a passenger," said Ms Eid.
"It's strangers in this confined space and that feeling of risk is intensified.
"I think that means that it's very easy for things to go wrong.
"A facial expression or intonation of voice could really throw things off between you and the driver very easily," she said.
Ms Eid, whose father was a taxi driver, said the show explored the changes in acceptable manners and etiquette throughout the last century.
"The system that we take for granted today where we can hail a cab for the street or pick one up from a rank – that didn’t always exist."
The exhibition also delves into interesting stories from Melbourne's taxi history.
"Women have been driving motor taxis since at least as early as 1918," said Ms Eid.
"Our first female taxi driver in Melbourne was a woman named Christian Jolly Smith who was actually a solicitor and drove cabs in between jobs."
Hello Yellow runs at Melbourne Town Hall's City Gallery from May 28 to July 28, 2014.
Topics: photography, history, library-museum-and-gallery, melbourne-3000
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