Exhibitions
Capturing the Home Front
Elysium Arctic
Bamal-Badu
From late October
Now showing
Now showing
This exhibition presents original Depression and World War II photographs by Dorothea Lange on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, including unvarnished depictions of the forced internment of Japanese–Americans from coastal California to inland internment camps.
Elysium Arctic follows a team of worldrenowned explorers, photographers and scientists into the icy regions of the High Arctic. Led by acclaimed wildlife photographer Michael Aw, the Elysium team produced a series of artworks showcasing the extreme beauty of the polar north.
Darling Harbour is called Gomora in the Sydney Aboriginal language and is part of the traditional lands (bamal, or earth) and waters (badu) of the Gadigal people. Bamal-Badu is a digital art installation that acknowledges the long history of the place where the museum is located and honours and respects the Aboriginal people who lived and continue to live around Sydney Harbour. The installation will take visitors on a virtual journey through the lands and waters of the traditional owners of the Sydney Harbour area and emphasise the importance of acknowledging and respecting our First Peoples.
See page 14 for more information.
Elysium Arctic captures the uniqueness of the Arctic environment at a time when climate change is threatening its very existence. Michael Aw believes that art can inspire action on climate change. Explore the magic of the High Arctic and see for yourself. Elysium Arctic is the museum’s newest outdoor exhibition, located outside Wharf 7.
Kanalaritja: An Unbroken String
Bligh: Hero or Villain?
Complementing Lange’s images are works by Japanese–American internee Toyo Miyatake and a selection of home front photography by Sam Hood, William Cranstone, Jim Fitzpatrick and Hedley Cullen reproduced from Australian collections.
An iceberg sculpted by wind and water, 2015. Image by Gillian Clark
Until 16 February 2020
Now showing
Developed by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and funded by Visions of Australia, this community-driven project celebrates the survival and transfer of Indigenous knowledge across generations via shell stringing. The exhibition is a tribute to the ancestral women who against all odds continued shell stringing as an act of resistance and cultural defiance. Most of all, it pays homage to the women of Cape Barren Island, who have preserved this tradition to the present day.
William Bligh is almost universally portrayed as a villain in movies and books, but does this view stand scrutiny today? Bligh: Hero or Villain? challenges this popular narrative, looking beyond the Bounty mutiny to explore the many sides of this infamous maritime figure. Come and judge for yourself – but be prepared for surprises! Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
Bamal Badu is a collaboration with Aboriginal digital artist Brett Leavy of Virtual Songlines.
Massim Kenu – drawings of the unique outrigger canoes from the Solomon Seas Until 29 September The Massim culture of Papua New Guinea is home to a unique variety of colourful outrigger canoes used for trade, and which are vital to the significant inter-island and community exchange of precious artefacts known as kula. This exhibition displays beautiful large-scale drawings of the canoes’ construction and layout by Curator of Historic Vessels David Payne.