EXHIBITIONS



DOCKLANDS

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XYZ Photo Gallery - Docklands 
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This is hard to find, Details on the website.
 
In Shadows
Curated by 郭志鹏 Zhipéng Guo
Main Gallery:
这啊 Zee Art | 桐色坊 Tong Se Fang | SIR | Dee 工作室 Studio Dee | 康不为 BuWay Kang
Director’s space:
Thee Domasan| Sir Z
to 18 February 2024 1:00 - 6:00pm, Wed - Fri & Sunday

Hasn’t been seen, doesn’t mean does not exist, on this journey of discovering the very little exposed Chinese mainland fetish scene in artistic form has been an eye opener and mind blast for me. This once considered conservative culture has evolved and finding it’s own style to express it’s passion and desire.
This exhibition is just a small glimpse into what’s out there in the underground queer scene of China, which I found stylish, edgy and experimental.

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Magnet Gallery - Docklands
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Journeys
Various artists
to 24 February 2024
 
With the theme of JOURNEYS this exhibition by 23 photographers examines so much more than travel - it considers our internal, spiritual, intellectual life journeys just as much as visiting new places or remembering favourite locations. And, bearing in mind that some journeys are involuntary, made by terrible necessity, we're fundraising this year for ASRC, the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.


INNER CITY

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Wolfhound Photographic Gallery - Fitzroy 
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Echoes and Whispers
Evan Cooper
27 January to 18 February 2023
 
Photographer, Evan Cooper, uses multiple-exposures to explore the possibilities of photography as an art form. Part photographic exhibition, part installation. Viewers can wander the space on their own path, to see and experience the works in their own unique way. The exhibition runs till 18 February, to give you time after seeing all the other amazing events within the festival.
As Renoir stated "art is about emotion, if it needs to be explained it is no longer art".

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CCP - Fitzroy
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Landscapes of Photobooks: An exhibition by Spector Books…
Various
to 18 February
 
Presented in partnership with Perimeter Books, and supported by the Goethe Institut, Australia.
This exhibition celebrates the world-renowned contemporary photographic and art publisher Spector Books (Leipzig), featuring hundreds of their publications, and many rare and out-of-print photography books.

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Hillvale Gallery - Brunswick 
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(Dis)connected to Country
Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis
1 March to 24 March 2024
 
Mapping the intertwined natures of self and Country.

Australia has a complex history tainted with colonialism, the mass genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and forced assimilation into the settler colony. The many products of colonialism are still prevalent and thriving today.

(Dis)connected to Country maps the intersections of place, identity, and family, and the way that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have inextricable connection to the land, as Country and self are intertwined and inseparable. Working with oral histories, the project reflects on the traumatic history of Australia with specific focus on Pitta Pitta Country and the removal of Romanis’ great-grandmother in the early 1900s during the Stolen Generations.

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Melbourne Museum - Carlton 
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Unfinished Business
Belinda Mason Knierim OAM, v Dieter Knierim, and Uncle John Baxter.
To 21 April 2024
 
Unfinished Business in an exhibition of photographic portraits revealing the stories of 30 First Nations people with lived experience of disability from across Australia.
Through their involvement in the project, each participant’s self-narratives which accompany their portraits contextualise and draw much-needed attention to critical issues that impact on their lives.

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Sol Gallery - Fitzroy 
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Seyhan Camgoz
Seyhan Camgoz
21 February - 3 March , 2024 

Seyhan Camgoz is a photographer and creative artist based in Melbourne. She is equally interested in the moments and her works consist of sequences to implement these moments on still photographs.

Her works create sequences that not only exhibit the beauty of the moment but also convey the emotions and context that come with it. Her works are a testament to her dedication to photography, as well as her deep appreciation for the art of storytelling.Seyhan's style is heavily influenced by historical art. She finds inspiration in various art forms from different eras and uses this inspiration to create her compositions. One can see this influence in her works, which possess a certain timelessness that transcends the present moment.

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CITY


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NGV International - Melbourne 
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Triennial
Various artists
To 7 April 2024
 
100 Projects 120 Artists, some using photo-media at the forefront of global contemporary practice.

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Arc One - Melbourne 
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CLOSER
Pat Brassington, Rose Farrell & George Parkin, Honey Long & Prue Stent, Grace Stevenson
To 24 February 2024
 
“She was like a park that had never once removed its Don’t Walk on the Grass signs.” – Elizabeth Harrower

Two people can only get so close. CLOSER gathers a group of artists concerned with the elusive nature of intimacy. Before we get any closer to these works, there are a myriad of obstacles in our way.

In this special exhibition esteemed artists from ARC ONE Gallery, PAT BRASSINGTON, ROSE FARRELL & GEORGE PARKIN, and HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT, are joined by Grace Stevenson,

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RMIT Gallery - Melbourne 
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Memo Akten, Amrita Hepi, Max Pinckers and Dries Depoorter, Rosa Menkman, Sara Oscar, J. Rosenbaum, Sebastian Schmieg and Alan Warburton
To 1 March to 4 May 2024
 
Photography is constantly dying and being reborn. AI represents the latest stage of photography’s transformation into a software output, cannibalising the camera and even transforming it into a set of executable text prompts. If it is now clear that photography is a kind of ‘program’, and that images are operational, actionable and scrapable, what does this mean for the future of the medium? Both an exploration and a provocation, this exhibition features work by Australian and international artists speculating on the social and political ramifications of photography’s afterlives. 

Wanderings About History – The Photography of Ulrich Wüst
Matthias Flügge
1 March 2024 to 20 April 2024

Ulrich Wüst’s photographic work captures his wanderings through German history, portraying the social and urban transformations from the GDR and its disintegration, through the German reunification to the present day. Wüst revives the German history in a new static way, where the past and present clash in a dynamic and ever-changing environment.  
Wanderings About History – The Photography of Ulrich Wüst shows a selection of nine suites taken between 1978 and 2019. Ulrich Wüst’s photographic work can be contemplated from different perspectives. While the observations captured here are rooted in Germany’s division and its mending, at the same time they always relate to universal phenomena of social change and its material manifestations. The seemingly terse images, extremely precise in their composition, are the fruits of lengthy visual wanderings through present sites of recent history.

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State Library of Victoria - Melbourne 
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Mirror: New view on photography   
From the Collection
to 28 January 2024
 
Great photography can hold up a mirror to the world and reflect our innermost thoughtsand feelings.​ MIRROR: New views on photography showcases over 140 photographs from theState Collection, alongside creative responses from emerging and established Victorian storytellers to tellfascinatingtales of Victoria through a contemporary lens.

Our Family Portrait   
Mia Mala McDonald
22 January - 4 February 2024
 
Once in a Lullaby, a portrait of Australian rainbow families is a new book by Melbourne artist Mia Mala McDonald who photographed rainbow families from the east coast of the country and captured personal stories of what it means to be a family.
View an installation of Mia’s photography in the Pauline Gandel Children’s Quarter over the two weeks of Midsumma.
You’ll also have a chance to continue Mia’s project and add your own image to the display! Get crafty and create your own family portrait to hang in this special installation.

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Shrine of Remembrance - Melbourne
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Ink in the Lines - Tattoos in the Australian military
to 11 February 2024

Tattoos are a conversation starter.

Many members and veterans of the Australian Defence Forces have tattoos, and while their reasons for getting tattooed are as varied as the people themselves, self expression and belonging play a part.

They also share a common purpose in getting inked: to remember.

Inscribed on skin are their identities as veterans, the commemoration of loss, experiences of trauma and overcoming adversity, the bonds of family and friends, and acknowledging the experiences that make us who we are.

Hear the stories behind the tattoos in the Ink in the Lines exhibition; showcasing Australia’s modern veterans and their families, who through their tattoos commemorate the people, events and experiences which shaped their lives.


Trenches to Runway

23 October to October 2024 At first glance, the world of fashion and the gravity of military service may appear distant, even disparate. Yet, they share a tapestry of connections that reveal themselves in profound ways.
 
Our latest exhibition explores the rich connections between the uniforms that once graced the battlefield and the iconic fashion staples we embrace today. Trenches to Runway delves into the profound impact of military clothing design and wartime conditions on popular fashion, tracing these influences from the 1870s to the present day. Discover how wartime led to innovative design solutions and how the fashion industry reinterpreted these styles, giving them new meaning and expression in civilian life..

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Hellenic Museum - Melbourne
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ONEIROI
Bill Henson
Indefinately
 
ONEIROI sets out to inspire discussion about what it means to be custodians of an ancient past and captures the way in which our history, culture and art shape the way in which we make sense of our own world.

VIEWFINDER
Iffy Alexakis
4 November 2023 — LATE February 2024
 
Effy Alexakis is one of the nation’s leading portrait and documentary photographers. A chronicler of the Greek-Australian experience since the early 1980s, her work is renowned for the dignity and complexity of its subjects, and for creating a holistic representation of humanity that spans geographies and generations.

Vic Archives Centre - North Melbourne (external show)
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Collective City
Cathrin Plunkett, Francesca Donnoli, Gonzzalo Palta, Shiang Liew, Sally Coggle, Mark Davidson, Mike Reed, Nathan Coote, Andrew Wilson, Adam Sinclair, Jane Hinwood and Ilana Rose
This exhibition showcases historic photographs of Melbourne from the state and federal government archives, alongside images representing our city today, curated from submissions by contemporary street photographers. The exhibition explores the moments of joy and connection that happen in our public spaces, between friends, family and strangers. It also highlights the ways people can feel disconnected or lonely in a crowd, and the divisions created by inequity of access to services and public spaces.

NOTE: located at PMI 39 St Edmonds Road, Prahran


SOUTH OF MELBOURNE


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Pride Centre - St Kilda 
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Queer Latinx: Migrating Down Under
Arun Ernesto Munoz
to 4 March 2024
 
Capturing humans navigating layers of identities, hopes and dreams 
As part of our 2024
Midsumma Festival program, this photographic project explores the layers of identity and intersectionality experienced by LGBTIQ+ Latinx people living in Australia. Photographer Arun Ernesto Munoz skilfully captures these narratives, offering a unique perspective that allows the subjects to present themselves authentically, sharing their lives and new realities as migrants. 

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Carlisle Street Arts Space - St Kilda 
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QUEER CONNECTIONS: CELEBRATING LGBTIQA+ HISTORY IN PORT PHILLIP
Various
2 February - 26 April 2024
 
Originally Melbourne's favourite seaside resort and playground, in the mid-20th century St Kilda transformed from a haven for the wealthy, to a significant place for those marginalised by mainstream society, including those who identify as LGBTIQA+. Over time the area has been the site for a variety of different venues, events and activities that have provided meaning and acceptance for such communities.

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Gasworks - Albert Park 
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7-Queens
MJ Bentley
16 January 2024 - 11 February 2024
 
7-Queens asks the viewer to look at each photograph like a window into another world and write a storyline within their own mind. Each photograph in 7-Queens utilises drag queens to both: express a unique story, and represent a culture currently present within the city of Melbourne, AU. 7-Queens features Rupaul's Drag Race's Aubrey Haive, Deja, Dettol, Jimi The Kween, Sarah Jessica Carpark, and Tilly Capulet.

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Eltham Library Community Gallery 
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In Their Names
Ayman Kaake
25 January – 3 March 2024
 
In this intimate installation, an inner-landscape unfolds about the experience of artist Ayman Kaake, his community and the criminalisation of homosexuality. Ayman’s friends are his models and they hail from multiple ethnic backgrounds, identifying as queer, gay and trans. In their Names marks out tenderly the repercussions of the criminalisation of sexuality internationally for the lives of individuals affected.


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Museum of Australian Photography - Monash 
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The Salt Lake
Murray Fredericks
25 November - 18 February 2024
 
The salt lake is a major survey exhibition of Murray Fredericks that brings together Salt, Array, Vanity and his most recent series, Blaze.


Echoes of melting blue
Lingam. K
29 November - 25 March 2024
 
Lingam. K is a research and lens-based artist interested in narrating the complexity of our relationship to nature and how it’s tied into culture and the modern world. In 2023, he spent two months in Iceland as part of an artist residency with The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (SÍM), an extension of his ongoing research into melting glaciers in the Himalayas. Echoes of Melting Blue is the creative outcome of that residency.
 

Stargazing
Various
25 November - 18 February 2024
 
Stargazing brings together a selection of contemporary photographs that guide us towards the stars, the planets and celestial spaces in poetic, experimental, playful, conceptual, and often quite abstract ways.


Melting icescape / black landscapes
Lingam.K
1 March – 26 May 2024
PHOTO 2024

Global warming is universal, and melting icescapes are one of the most visual indicators. As humans continue extractive and consumerist industries, our behaviours permanently affect the landscape, resulting in significant ecological impact – leaving an ineradicable ‘human signature’. Melting icescapes/black landscapes is a response to the glacial melt due to climate change. Using the alternative photographic processes of salt printing, the project captures the impending ecological collapse and encourages reflection on our relationship and impact on the landscape. It visually articulates the passing of time through the fading of the salt print and the effects of climate change on glacial landscapes.


Extraction
Edward Burtynsky
1 March – 26 May 2024
PHOTO 2024

Over the last forty years, Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky has photographed landscapes all over the world, documenting how human systems and industry are reshaping our planet. Through photographs of urbanisation, deforestation, and mining extractions, Burtynsky’s images are simultaneously sublime and terrifying, chronicling the insatiable demand for finite resources from a rapidly accelerating population.
In 2022, Burtynsky photographed Ravensworth Mine in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, an open cut mine producing coal for export. Presented through ten large-format photographs, these aerial images show the scale of active industry and seduce the viewer via sensual patterns and topography. The photographs provide vantages for discussion of the future of the environment. Whether the landscapes are seen as an environmental disaster or human progress, these works bear witness to the changing planet.


Tears of dust
Janet Laurence
1 March – 26 May 2024
PHOTO 2024

Janet Laurence’s immersive, multisensory installation Tears of dust reflects upon the fragility and power of the natural environment. Her intensely seductive and yet haunting evocations of the natural environment create encounters with our changing planet.

In this world premiere show, these wunderkammers (cabinets of curiosity) provide windows into our fragile ecosystem—of breathing forests, extreme weather events and dying glaciers—and offer a sense of connection with, and mourning of, our vanishing life world.

When encountering these familiar and yet otherworldly environments, we become profoundly aware of the interconnection of all life forms and the alchemical wonder of plants' ability to regenerate.


009
Corben Mudjandi
1 March – 26 May 2024
PHOTO 2024

In 1982, the township of Jabiru was established around a uranium mining site, intended to house the mine’s workers—without the consensus of the Traditional Owners.

This exhibition features works by Mirrar Traditional Owner and visual artist Corben Mudjandi. The photographs capture his perspectives on Mirrar Country and his own community, displayed alongside images of the former uranium mining site at Jabiru.

The poetry and beauty of Corben’s works stand in contrast with the history concealed behind them. The images he offers address the dichotomy that exists between the impact of modern industries on the environment, and the resilience of Indigenous people in fostering values such as kinship, connection to Country and culture.

Renaissance: A Journey of Transformation
Sonia Payes
1 March – 26 May 2024
PHOTO 2024

In this site-specific installation across MAPh’s sculpture park, Sonia Payes embraces the sculptural possibilities of the photographic medium. Payes’ interpretation of possible futures examines the impact of human intervention on the planet.

These otherworldly and yet familiar landscapes may seem apocalyptic but they illustrate Payes’ unwavering faith in our species’ capacity to adjust and persevere. As individuals and as a collective human race, she believes we must consistently adapt to the ever-changing nature of our planet’s environment. The complexity of Payes’ imagery captures the planet’s ongoing process of transformation, offering poetic insights into humanity’s aspirations for the future of our environment, including those futures already determined.

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Heidi Museum of Modern Art - Bulleen 
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Surrealist
Lee Miller
4 November 2023 – 25 February 2024
 
Shining a light on a ground-breaking woman artist, Heide will present the first Australian survey of photographer Lee Miller. A surrealist before she even knew of the movement, Lee Miller was one of the most original photographic artists of the twentieth century. Defying the expectations placed on her as a woman and an artist, she was as unconventional in her life as in her work and captured the intensity of her experiences in unforgettable images.
 
The exhibition has been curated by Miller’s son, Antony Penrose, and includes 100 photographs from across the artist’s remarkable career. Surrealist Lee Miller spans her early portrait and fashion photography in New York and Paris, landscape and architecture, her coverage of the horrors of the Second World War, and her extraordinary creative circle—which included Man Ray, Picasso, Max Ernst, Dora Maar and many others—revealing Miller’s surrealist eye and deep involvement in the world around her.


WESTERN MELBOURNE 

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Footscray Community Arts (Outdoors)
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Black and Blur
Lilah Benetti 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
Through this series featuring portraits of migrant and Indigenous Black individuals, artist Lilah Benetti recognises that Blackness is far from a monolithic identity; it’s a mosaic of cultural, ethnic, and global Indigenous backgrounds, shaped and coloured by the unique contexts from which we emerge.
 
The Zizi Show
Jake Elwes 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
The Zizi Project is an ongoing collection of works exploring the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and drag performance.
Drag challenges gender and explores otherness, while AI, often mystified as a concept and tool, is complicit in reproducing social bias. Zizi combines these themes through a deepfake, synthesised drag identity created using machine learning. The project explores what AI can teach us about drag, and what drag can teach us about AI.One of Williams passions was photography – this exhibition of hand printed photographs is a reflection of how William viewed the world.

Orange Grove
Clifford Prince King 
3 February - 26 May 2024
 
Self-taught US artist Clifford Prince King documents his intimate relationships in traditional, everyday settings that speak to his experiences as a queer Black man. Orange Grove is a series of dark and handsome images, filled with King’s intricate portraits that flow like tapestries. King makes the everyday transparent while embracing possible futures, through a sense of fantasy and daydream. Woven into the narrative is King’s 2018 HIV diagnosis, and the subsequent shifts in the body that illness brings. As King describes, “The work I make is the work I wish I had seen growing up, to make my process and my understanding easier. That links back to the faces being hidden in some images, I think it allows for people to put themselves in that photograph.”

Like A River
Daniel Jack Lyons 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
Made in collaboration with Casa do Rio, a community-based organisation that celebrates and supports the cultural lives of teenagers and young people living in the Amazon Rainforest, these portrait photographs by Daniel Jack Lyons visualise and empower this trans and queer community.

Alteration (Outdoors)
Fafswag 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
Meeting at the intersections of cultural archival practices, digital technology and queer Indigenous storytelling, Alteration presents a glimpse into the shapeshifting practice of FAFSWAG, an Aotearoa-based queer Polynesian arts collective.

Footscray Community Arts (Indoors)
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Exquisite Corpse
Salote Tawale 
3 February - 26 May 2024
 
The exhibition title Exquisite Corpse refers not only to the collaborative drawing game popularised by the surrealists (who in turn, appropriated Oceanic objects and ideas), but also to the cumulative migrant experience in post-colonial Australia.

Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black)
Derik Lynch (Yankunytjatjara) Matthew Thorne  
3 February - 26 May 2024
 
The Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black) is an autobiographical work, following queer Yankunytjatjara man Derik Lynch’s road trip back to Country for spiritual healing as memories from his childhood return—memories of his childhood, of growing up in remote Anangu Community, and of learning Tjukurpa.
This photographic series follows his journey from the oppression of white city life in Adelaide, back home to his remote Anangu Community Aputula to perform on sacred Inma ground.

Trocadero Projects - Footscray
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Surfacing
Estelle Yoon, Luce Nguyễn-Hunt, Rômy Pacquing McCoy and 邓佳颖 (Dorcas Tang)
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
In SURFACING, these four artists challenge the traditions of the photographic medium as they explore and extend personal and community archives through a queer and diasporic lens.

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Substation - Newport 
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Alteration
Fafswag 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
Meeting at the intersections of cultural archival practices, digital technology and queer Indigenous storytelling, Alteration presents a glimpse into the shapeshifting practice of FAFSWAG, an Aotearoa-based queer Polynesian arts collective..

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The Outside Gallery - Newport 
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So’otaga (Connection)
Leilani Fuimaono 
27 January - 1 July 2024
 
So’otaga (Connection) explores belonging, community, and connection in Melbourne’s Pasifika & Māori diaspora.
Derived from Fuimaono’s seven-year catalogue and featuring new works, this exhibition reflects on the intricate web of diaspora connections, particularly the potential for both intimacy and alienation within intersecting micro-communities. Contemplating the delicate yet enduring strength of these bonds, the series serves as a love letter both to and from the artist’s extended LGBTQIA+ Pasifika & Māori community. Viewers are invited to reflect on their own deeply personal experiences of ‘community’, ‘belonging,’ and cultural identity.

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The Substation Billboard Gallery - Newport 
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TBWWWTB (To Be Who We Want To Be)
Vic Bakin 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
After decades of Soviet forbiddance and suppression, the queer scene in Ukraine has sprouted from the underground. Artist Vic Bakin captures images of this emerging community during the Russian invasion.

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Werribee Train Station 
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Affirm
Peter Waples-Crowe 
27 January - 31 December 2024
 
Located within the architecture of Station Place, Peter Waples-Crowe’s site-based exhibition Affirm sits in the expansive window-based architrave and entrance to the subterranean hub of the Station. The artist has worked with his image-based archive—itself incorporating new and found imagery—moulded as raw material, often subverting the imagery’s original intents and purposes.
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Wyndham Art Gallery - Werribee 
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The New Pre-Raphaelites
Sunil Gupta 
27 January - 14 April 2024
 
Presented in partnership with Autograph London, The New Pre-Raphaelites is a series of thirteen photographs merging Victorian era aesthetics with contemporary Indian queer culture. The series portrays individuals and families affected by Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised homosexuality. This law, instituted by the British in 1861 and not overturned until 2018, led to the arbitrary arrest and exploitation of LGBTQ+ Indians.

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Werribee Park Mansion 
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Queer Immigrants
Asafe Ghalib 
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
Asafe Ghalib photographs individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community, including friends and fellow-artists. Working mostly in black-and-white and sepia photography, Ghalib’s images recall newspaper and historical photographs both from old books and magazines as well as traditional family photos—a type of portraiture that has been present since the invention of photography.

To See or Not to See
Karla Dickens
27 January - 24 March 2024
 
In this exhibition, Dickens’ studio self-portraits depict the artist in hoods with varying designs, acting as a reminder of the masking and oppression of recent Aboriginal experience.


RURAL NORTH OF VICTORIA 

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Gold Street Gallery - Trentham East 
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My Vision
William Wall 
to 18 February 2024
 
William Ernest Wall at the age of 14 was lost to us on the 22nd of September 2020
One of Williams passions was photography – this exhibition of hand printed photographs is a reflection of how William viewed the world.
The Compassionate Friends Victoria is dedicated to supporting grieving parents, siblings and grandparents in the event of the death of a child – of any age or from any cause.
Proceeds from the sale of William’s images will be donated to The Compassionate Friends Victoria. This is to support Youth Suicide.
 
Pennsylvania Home Coming
Gregory Soltys 
21st February to 5th May 2024
 
“I grew up in the Laurel Highlands region of Southwestern Pennsylvania in a small town called Latrobe.  The Laurel Highlands is a popular area for hiking, fishing, camping, mountain biking, downhill and cross-country skiing, and other outdoor activities.  It’s also an area of stunning natural beauty.
I’ve not lived there for 35 years.  At 18 I left for college and then lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 25 years before moving to Melbourne 5 years ago.  I’d wanted to go back to visit my mom in June 2020, but the pandemic put a pause to that.  Thankfully I had the opportunity to go for six weeks in June/July 2022.  I was keen to capture the landscape of my youth with my Chamonix 4×5 camera.

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Art Gallery of Ballarat - Ballarat 
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Hai Kot Tou
Scotty So
2 March to 2 June 2024
 
 Scotty So is a Melbourne-based artist who works across media, using painting, photography, sculptures, site-responsive installation, videos and performance. Driven by the thrill of camp, he explores the often-contradictory relationship between humour and sincerity within lived experience to offer a glimpse of a future society that embraces difference. 
The exhibition features the premiere of a new video work paying tribute to the Begonia Queens who were a feature of Ballarat’s Begonia Festival from 1953 to 1993. Images from So’s series Hai Kot Tou will also be exhibited for the first time in Australia, in which the artist is photographed dressed in all fake items inspired by high-fashion brands, with matching grocery trolleys, echoing the head-to-toe monogram trend in Asia. 

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

Nan Goldin
2 March to 2 June 2024
 
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is a defining artwork of the 1980s. Nan Goldin’s extended photographic study of her chosen family – her ‘tribe’ – began life as a slide show screened in the clubs and bars of New York where Goldin and her friends worked and played. The slide show was then distilled to a series of 126 photographs, which has recently become part of the National Gallery’s collection.
Goldin takes photographs to connect, to keep the people she loves in her memory. She is committed to the idea that photography can faithfully record a time and place, and do so in a way that has real social purpose. Using a documentary, snapshot style, she lays bare her life in the manner of a family album. We see her alongside her friends and lovers as they live their lives – hanging out, falling in and out of love, having children. But this is a community that would be decimated by HIV/AIDS and drug-related deaths. The Ballad has become as much a testament to how much Goldin and her community have lost, as it is a record of the look and feel of a past time.

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