Mumkurla-nginyi-ma parrngalinyparla – from the darkness into the light. The Gurindji freedom banners are a collection of 10 hand-painted banners created in 2000 by the Gurindji to share the community’s version of the historic 1966 Wave Hill walk-off. The walk-off, or Gurindji strike, led by Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari was an important event in Australia’s land rights movement. Many of the 35 Gurindji people involved in the [...]

The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes delight and surprise audiences every year with fresh presentations of contemporary Australian painting and sculpture. At its heart, the Archibald Prize is about storytelling. Who are the people our artists have chosen to paint and what do their portraits reveal to us? In this exhibition, Australian and New Zealand artists use portraiture to share the beauty and complexity of our times. [...]

Presented alongside the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2026 at the Art Gallery of NSW, this salon-style wall features portraits of a different kind, not of people, but of other beings deserving of our affection – beloved pets, spirit guides and creature friends. Created by the artists of Little Orange Studio in Campbelltown, Pet Palace is a celebration of the unbreakable bonds (and knowing looks) between people and animals. For the [...]

Back in Five surveys twenty years of one of Aotearoa’s most bold and distinctive contemporary artists. Wayne Youle’s sculptural practice charts the passage of time not just as a theme but as a material that shapes, stretches, and reframes meaning. With his trademark playfulness and wit and working across a broad range of media, schoolboy pranks meet sharp cultural critique. Youle tackles big ideas—masculinity, fatherhood, colonial legacy, and [...]

Jeetje is an invitation to re-examine the work of Ans Westra (1936–2023), one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant documentary photographers. Jeetje  is a Dutch expression of surprise — and, in this case, delight. It sets the tone for this selection drawn from Westra’s vast archive of funny, tender, and poignant photographs spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. From poetry readings in graveyards to spirited street protests, from competitive dog shows [...]

Positioning themselves within the frame, these artists craft memories and autobiographical narratives to explore truth, identity, culture, ancestry, and politics. Through deeply personal cultural and familial histories, the works reflect on lived experience while highlighting the ongoing impacts of Australia’s colonial past on First Nations peoples. Featured artists include Hayley Millar Baker, Michael Cook, Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis, Damien Shen, Dr Christian Thompson AO, and Keemon Willams.

Jessie French’s exhibition, Material Conditions: Systems Beneath Surfaces, examines the industrial systems embedded within the materials that shape our inhabited spaces and their resultant environmental and ethical consequences. Established systems, optimised for efficiency, low cost, and standardisation, dictate how physical resources are produced, circulated, and utilised in our daily environments. Many of these materials rely on chemical additives including binders, stabilisers and coatings to enable their rapid manufacturing. [...]

A photographic exhibition of birdlife found in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Showing great detail these images capture the unique characteristics of birds that make the Blue Mountains their home.