reFrame-reFocus
all about photographs
EXHIBITIONS
DOCKLANDS
XYZ Photo Gallery - Docklands
Link Map
This is hard to find, Details on the website.
The gallery will Close for winter break and reopen with:
Creatives x Creatives
Henri Cartier-Bresson // Arnold Newman // Nadar // and many others
29 August to 11 October 2026
There are recurring themes/tropes in photography, making photographs of other creatives is one. This exhibition will place historic work alongside photographs made locally. Each photographer represented by two of their images.
Link Map
This is hard to find, Details on the website.
The gallery will Close for winter break and reopen with:
Creatives x Creatives
Henri Cartier-Bresson // Arnold Newman // Nadar // and many others
29 August to 11 October 2026
There are recurring themes/tropes in photography, making photographs of other creatives is one. This exhibition will place historic work alongside photographs made locally. Each photographer represented by two of their images.
Magnet Gallery - Docklands
Link Map
Remembering
Various
to 28 June 2026
Photographers from all over Australia have donated prints of their work to our Fundraiser exhibition for DEMENTIA AUSTRALIA.
Come and visit in June for an absolute feast of photography - and help us support the organisation that supports so many people and their families as they navigate the pathways of dementia in its many forms.
Link Map
Remembering
Various
to 28 June 2026
Photographers from all over Australia have donated prints of their work to our Fundraiser exhibition for DEMENTIA AUSTRALIA.
Come and visit in June for an absolute feast of photography - and help us support the organisation that supports so many people and their families as they navigate the pathways of dementia in its many forms.
Kindred Camera - Docklands
Link Map
Mind Australia 2026
Various
20-30 June 2026
This is the fourth year Kindred Cameras has run this show in partnership with Mind Australia, displaying creative work made by members of the Mind Australia community.
Mind Australia is described as a not-for-profit supporting people facing mental health and wellbeing challenges, and the exhibition is part of that organisation's broader work helping members find hope, purpose and support.
Afterglow
Various (group exhibition, over 50 artists)
4-14 July 2026
Opening: Friday 3 July 2026, 6-8pm
Afterglow is a winter group show bringing together more than fifty artists responding to the idea of light, both as a physical phenomenon and an emotional state. It is open to a broad range of visual art forms rather than being restricted to one medium, and takes its cue from the particular character of Melbourne's winter evenings.
The exhibition explores themes of glow, reflection, shadow, atmosphere and memory, looking at what lingers once a source of light has faded. It includes pieces that directly use light, projection and reflective materials as well as quieter works dealing with warmth, intimacy and presence, with the overall aim of considering what is left behind after illumination passes.
Unknown / Familiar
Angela De Palma, Guy Rapone, Joshua Sleep, Maddie Stevens
18-28 July 2026
This exhibition looks at how four photographers' personal experience is shaped by the environments around them, treating each artist's life as something expressed through their images. The show frames each photograph as carrying a charge that can move or affect the viewer, on the basis that we recognise these spaces in our own bodies and experience.
Each artist contributes a series of photographs of landscapes, buildings and places that collectively builds a kind of self-portrait through imagery. The gallery describes this as the artists creating images of themselves but also, by extension, of the viewer, who may recognise something of their own experience in the work and feel a quiet sense of intimacy with it.
Link Map
Mind Australia 2026
Various
20-30 June 2026
This is the fourth year Kindred Cameras has run this show in partnership with Mind Australia, displaying creative work made by members of the Mind Australia community.
Mind Australia is described as a not-for-profit supporting people facing mental health and wellbeing challenges, and the exhibition is part of that organisation's broader work helping members find hope, purpose and support.
Afterglow
Various (group exhibition, over 50 artists)
4-14 July 2026
Opening: Friday 3 July 2026, 6-8pm
Afterglow is a winter group show bringing together more than fifty artists responding to the idea of light, both as a physical phenomenon and an emotional state. It is open to a broad range of visual art forms rather than being restricted to one medium, and takes its cue from the particular character of Melbourne's winter evenings.
The exhibition explores themes of glow, reflection, shadow, atmosphere and memory, looking at what lingers once a source of light has faded. It includes pieces that directly use light, projection and reflective materials as well as quieter works dealing with warmth, intimacy and presence, with the overall aim of considering what is left behind after illumination passes.
Unknown / Familiar
Angela De Palma, Guy Rapone, Joshua Sleep, Maddie Stevens
18-28 July 2026
This exhibition looks at how four photographers' personal experience is shaped by the environments around them, treating each artist's life as something expressed through their images. The show frames each photograph as carrying a charge that can move or affect the viewer, on the basis that we recognise these spaces in our own bodies and experience.
Each artist contributes a series of photographs of landscapes, buildings and places that collectively builds a kind of self-portrait through imagery. The gallery describes this as the artists creating images of themselves but also, by extension, of the viewer, who may recognise something of their own experience in the work and feel a quiet sense of intimacy with it.
INNER CITY
Hillvale Gallery - Brunswick
Link Map
Disco Pussy Syndrome
JJ Jimenez
12 June to 12 July 2026
Disco Pussy Syndrome is a photographic love letter to New York City, to its people, its places, and its fleeting, irretrievable moments. Shot on film and early digital cameras across the late 1990s and early/mid 2000s, these images gather together a world in motion: sweaty dance floors, queer nightlife, portraits of friends, quiet moments of intimacy and unexpected run-ins with strangers. This is not a document of a single community, but of a city and a time seen through the eyes of someone who lived it completely.
The series emerged from JJ’s rediscovery of her personal archive during the pandemic. Sitting with the photographs again, she found what was actually there: a world that existed before social media, before PRIDE month became a marketing campaign, before anyone was performing for an audience or chasing likes. People unguarded. Moments that were messy and real.
Post BC
Steven Xiao
12 June to 12 July 2026
Post BC is an ongoing long-term photographic project and the first chapter of a planned trilogy examining contemporary civilization through shifting visual languages and narrative structures. Combining documentary photography, staged imagery, and fragmented forms of visual evidence, the project approaches contemporary society as a form of social archaeology and anthropological observation.
Rather than strictly separating fiction from reality, Post BC treats both as part of the same psychological and cultural landscape. What matters is not whether an image is discovered or constructed, but whether it reveals something fundamentally true about the conditions we live within.
Link Map
Disco Pussy Syndrome
JJ Jimenez
12 June to 12 July 2026
Disco Pussy Syndrome is a photographic love letter to New York City, to its people, its places, and its fleeting, irretrievable moments. Shot on film and early digital cameras across the late 1990s and early/mid 2000s, these images gather together a world in motion: sweaty dance floors, queer nightlife, portraits of friends, quiet moments of intimacy and unexpected run-ins with strangers. This is not a document of a single community, but of a city and a time seen through the eyes of someone who lived it completely.
The series emerged from JJ’s rediscovery of her personal archive during the pandemic. Sitting with the photographs again, she found what was actually there: a world that existed before social media, before PRIDE month became a marketing campaign, before anyone was performing for an audience or chasing likes. People unguarded. Moments that were messy and real.
Post BC
Steven Xiao
12 June to 12 July 2026
Post BC is an ongoing long-term photographic project and the first chapter of a planned trilogy examining contemporary civilization through shifting visual languages and narrative structures. Combining documentary photography, staged imagery, and fragmented forms of visual evidence, the project approaches contemporary society as a form of social archaeology and anthropological observation.
Rather than strictly separating fiction from reality, Post BC treats both as part of the same psychological and cultural landscape. What matters is not whether an image is discovered or constructed, but whether it reveals something fundamentally true about the conditions we live within.
BlackDot - Brunswick
Link Map
We Built a House Out of Water
Peta Duncan
to 28 June 2026
Centre for Contemporary Photography presents this body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process. This exhibition uses water as both a material and a metaphor to create various works of layered meaning. Exploring catharsis and expression through photography, stop-motion animation and alternative printing techniques. The artist creates an expressive, intimate space that mirrors an internal landscape.
Link Map
We Built a House Out of Water
Peta Duncan
to 28 June 2026
Centre for Contemporary Photography presents this body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process. This exhibition uses water as both a material and a metaphor to create various works of layered meaning. Exploring catharsis and expression through photography, stop-motion animation and alternative printing techniques. The artist creates an expressive, intimate space that mirrors an internal landscape.
CITY
Leica Gallery Melbourne - Melbourne
Link Map
Leica Akademie Australia - In Transit
Various
To 14 August 2026
In Transit brings together the work of 65 photographers who have participated in Leica Akademie Australia's destination workshops.
Spanning six remarkable corners of the world — Vietnam, India, Germany, Portugal, Japan and Morocco — the workshops have taken photographers out of the familiar and into the unknown, challenging them to see with fresh eyes and an open heart.
Link Map
Leica Akademie Australia - In Transit
Various
To 14 August 2026
In Transit brings together the work of 65 photographers who have participated in Leica Akademie Australia's destination workshops.
Spanning six remarkable corners of the world — Vietnam, India, Germany, Portugal, Japan and Morocco — the workshops have taken photographers out of the familiar and into the unknown, challenging them to see with fresh eyes and an open heart.
City Gallery - Melbourne
Link Map
Exhibition: On the street where I live
Viva Gibb
to 7 August 2026
On the street where I live showcases the photography of artist Viva Jillian Gibb (1945–2017). Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s she documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived. For nearly two decades, this was the primary focus of her work. Jewel-like portraits predominate, with her subjects set in a distinctive inner-suburban landscape. Grounded in her strong social and political convictions, Gibb created a sympathetic portrait of the community during a transformative period in Melbourne’s history.
Link Map
Exhibition: On the street where I live
Viva Gibb
to 7 August 2026
On the street where I live showcases the photography of artist Viva Jillian Gibb (1945–2017). Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s she documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived. For nearly two decades, this was the primary focus of her work. Jewel-like portraits predominate, with her subjects set in a distinctive inner-suburban landscape. Grounded in her strong social and political convictions, Gibb created a sympathetic portrait of the community during a transformative period in Melbourne’s history.
NGV Ian Potter Centre - Melbourne
Link Map
Artist Room
John Gollings
To August 2026
John Gollings has been a leading Australian photographer for over fifty years. This collection of his architectural photography bridges modernism and the present day, celebrating Australian architecture through a surreal lens. This approach is exemplified in one of his most iconic photographs, Kay Street Housing by Edmond and Corrigan, which captures the optimism and energy of Melbourne’s postmodern architecture movement. Shot at night with double exposures and awash with flash, Gollings imbues the suburban setting with a mythic quality through the addition of bounding kangaroos.
Link Map
Artist Room
John Gollings
To August 2026
John Gollings has been a leading Australian photographer for over fifty years. This collection of his architectural photography bridges modernism and the present day, celebrating Australian architecture through a surreal lens. This approach is exemplified in one of his most iconic photographs, Kay Street Housing by Edmond and Corrigan, which captures the optimism and energy of Melbourne’s postmodern architecture movement. Shot at night with double exposures and awash with flash, Gollings imbues the suburban setting with a mythic quality through the addition of bounding kangaroos.
NGV International - Melbourne
Link Map
BEARING WITNESS
CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART FROM THE NGV COLLECTION
FX Harsono, Huang Yan, Haris Purnomo, Qiu Zhijie, Prilla Tania, Xiao Lu, Yee I-Lann, Zhang Huan
to 30 August 2026
In these works, artists across Asia and its diasporas confront history and social change, transforming the body, language and visual traditions into forms of resistance. These works highlight how individuals negotiate the systems that seek to define, rename or erase them, and how art is used as both a record and resistance.
Link Map
BEARING WITNESS
CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART FROM THE NGV COLLECTION
FX Harsono, Huang Yan, Haris Purnomo, Qiu Zhijie, Prilla Tania, Xiao Lu, Yee I-Lann, Zhang Huan
to 30 August 2026
In these works, artists across Asia and its diasporas confront history and social change, transforming the body, language and visual traditions into forms of resistance. These works highlight how individuals negotiate the systems that seek to define, rename or erase them, and how art is used as both a record and resistance.
City Library - Melbourne
Link Map
Manifesto Melbourne
Greg Branson
to 12 July 2026
Artist Greg Branson visualises the city by crafting one photograph inspired by each master - translating their distinctive styles, philosophies and ways of seeing into Melbourne’s contemporary streetscape. Branson captures the spirit of these icons within Melbourne’s own visual language.
Familiar sites, the National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Market, City laneways and the city’s dynamic dining culture all become meditations on light, geometry and emotion. These works are not imitation but homage: each print an exploration of how temperament and vision shape perception itself. Together, they form a collective portrait of Melbourne as muse - restless, reflective and endlessly photogenic.
Link Map
Manifesto Melbourne
Greg Branson
to 12 July 2026
Artist Greg Branson visualises the city by crafting one photograph inspired by each master - translating their distinctive styles, philosophies and ways of seeing into Melbourne’s contemporary streetscape. Branson captures the spirit of these icons within Melbourne’s own visual language.
Familiar sites, the National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Market, City laneways and the city’s dynamic dining culture all become meditations on light, geometry and emotion. These works are not imitation but homage: each print an exploration of how temperament and vision shape perception itself. Together, they form a collective portrait of Melbourne as muse - restless, reflective and endlessly photogenic.
Vic Archives Centre - North Melbourne
Link Map
Rehearsing the City
Ai Tam Do, Adrian Leung, Suzanne Phoenix, Ted Richards, Sande Harsa, Mark Forbes, Melanie Cobham, Michael Currie, Andrew Tan, Hashem McAdam, Chris Bekos and Deb Stembridge.
to March 2027
This exhibition reflects on public space as a stage, a place where meaning is constantly performed, contested and redefined. On display are photographs sourced from the collections of Victoria’s State and National Archives, as well as work by contemporary photographers responding to Victoria’s urban environment.
Link Map
Rehearsing the City
Ai Tam Do, Adrian Leung, Suzanne Phoenix, Ted Richards, Sande Harsa, Mark Forbes, Melanie Cobham, Michael Currie, Andrew Tan, Hashem McAdam, Chris Bekos and Deb Stembridge.
to March 2027
This exhibition reflects on public space as a stage, a place where meaning is constantly performed, contested and redefined. On display are photographs sourced from the collections of Victoria’s State and National Archives, as well as work by contemporary photographers responding to Victoria’s urban environment.
Old Treasury Building - Melbourne
Link Map
Swinging Sixties
Various
Until 2027
The 1960s is remembered as a turbulent decade. In contrast to the ‘conservative’ 1950s, the sixties are associated with changing ideas, youthful rebellion and experimentation. New music, new fashions and new attitudes to authority defined ‘the generation gap’.
Making Modern Melbourne
historical photographs & Sarah Pannell
Indefinitely
An optimistic new nation was created at the dawn of the 20th century. Australia was self-governing, and Melbourne would be its temporary capital while Canberra was constructed.
This free exhibition at Old Treasury Building examines the tumultuous century that was to come, with two world wars and a Depression. But also, a ‘long boom’, multiculturalism, rights for all citizens, increased public transport and heritage laws which would protect the historic buildings we still have today!
Link Map
Swinging Sixties
Various
Until 2027
The 1960s is remembered as a turbulent decade. In contrast to the ‘conservative’ 1950s, the sixties are associated with changing ideas, youthful rebellion and experimentation. New music, new fashions and new attitudes to authority defined ‘the generation gap’.
Making Modern Melbourne
historical photographs & Sarah Pannell
Indefinitely
An optimistic new nation was created at the dawn of the 20th century. Australia was self-governing, and Melbourne would be its temporary capital while Canberra was constructed.
This free exhibition at Old Treasury Building examines the tumultuous century that was to come, with two world wars and a Depression. But also, a ‘long boom’, multiculturalism, rights for all citizens, increased public transport and heritage laws which would protect the historic buildings we still have today!
SOUTH OF MELBOURNE CITY
Pride Centre - St Kilda
Link Map
LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s
Various
to 30 June 2026
Drawn from the archive of Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, partners and collectors based in New York, the photographs in LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s – 1950s were gathered over 25 years from flea markets, antique stores, family albums and online auctions. What began as a single photo found in Dallas in the 1990s, an image that captured what Nini and Treadwell described as the ‘unmistakeable look of love’, has grown into an archive of over 4,000 photographs spanning Europe, Asia, North America and Australia.
Tableaux
Gerard O’Connor
11 June – 19 July 2026
These images present cinematic, camp tableaux that reimagine and foreground LGBTIQ+ figures who have long been overlooked in mainstream history. From men dancing the tango, to Victorian women archers, drag performers of the 1940s, star singers in Buenos Aires, and queer narratives woven through goldfields life in Caulfield’s National Trust house ‘La Bassa,’ these works inhabit and reclaim historical spaces. Trans bridesmaids at 1980s wedding parties further underline the continuity of queer presence across time.
Portraits 168
Steven Broadhurst
23 July – 6 August 2026
Steven Broadhurst’s practice is grounded in lived experience and shaped by community. Through portraiture, he explores the layered nature of friendship, revealing intimacy, difference and chosen kinship as vital expressions of queer life.
Body Language
Vicki Jones
22 October -29 November 2026
Body Language is a collaborative portraiture project with LGBTIQA+ people in Australia and The Pacific, which explores the expression of gender beyond the binary, presented as photographic prints with participant statements. Via the use of both digital and analogue photographic processes and set in safe spaces, the participants are the co-creators of their own representation, inviting the viewer to consider the idea that gender is a creative, evolving, personal life process, expressed by each individual.
Link Map
LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s
Various
to 30 June 2026
Drawn from the archive of Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, partners and collectors based in New York, the photographs in LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s – 1950s were gathered over 25 years from flea markets, antique stores, family albums and online auctions. What began as a single photo found in Dallas in the 1990s, an image that captured what Nini and Treadwell described as the ‘unmistakeable look of love’, has grown into an archive of over 4,000 photographs spanning Europe, Asia, North America and Australia.
Tableaux
Gerard O’Connor
11 June – 19 July 2026
These images present cinematic, camp tableaux that reimagine and foreground LGBTIQ+ figures who have long been overlooked in mainstream history. From men dancing the tango, to Victorian women archers, drag performers of the 1940s, star singers in Buenos Aires, and queer narratives woven through goldfields life in Caulfield’s National Trust house ‘La Bassa,’ these works inhabit and reclaim historical spaces. Trans bridesmaids at 1980s wedding parties further underline the continuity of queer presence across time.
Portraits 168
Steven Broadhurst
23 July – 6 August 2026
Steven Broadhurst’s practice is grounded in lived experience and shaped by community. Through portraiture, he explores the layered nature of friendship, revealing intimacy, difference and chosen kinship as vital expressions of queer life.
Body Language
Vicki Jones
22 October -29 November 2026
Body Language is a collaborative portraiture project with LGBTIQA+ people in Australia and The Pacific, which explores the expression of gender beyond the binary, presented as photographic prints with participant statements. Via the use of both digital and analogue photographic processes and set in safe spaces, the participants are the co-creators of their own representation, inviting the viewer to consider the idea that gender is a creative, evolving, personal life process, expressed by each individual.
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art - Southbank
Link Map
Are you lonely tonight?
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
Polly Borland, Seth Brown, Lucy Liu, Kayla Mattes
3 July 2026 to 30 August 2026
An ambitious new exhibition series exploring the relationships between contemporary art and human emotion. The Art and Emotion series is an annual program that brings together bold new commissions with existing works by artists from Australia and around the world. The first three exhibitions in the series will explore distinct emotional states: Loneliness (2026), Rage (2027), and Joy (2028). Each exhibition offers audiences a powerful insight into how artists interrogate, express, and give shape to emotion through their work.
NEW26
Various
18 September to 22 November 2026
ACCA is pleased to announce the return of the much-loved NEW exhibition series, celebrating the most compelling emerging artists from our region through bold and ambitious new commissions. Long regarded by artists and audiences alike as a benchmark for early-career practice, NEW originally ran at ACCA from 2003 – 2016, offering a vital platform for the next generation of Australian artists to experiment, take risks, and present major new work within a public institution.
Link Map
Are you lonely tonight?
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
Polly Borland, Seth Brown, Lucy Liu, Kayla Mattes
3 July 2026 to 30 August 2026
An ambitious new exhibition series exploring the relationships between contemporary art and human emotion. The Art and Emotion series is an annual program that brings together bold new commissions with existing works by artists from Australia and around the world. The first three exhibitions in the series will explore distinct emotional states: Loneliness (2026), Rage (2027), and Joy (2028). Each exhibition offers audiences a powerful insight into how artists interrogate, express, and give shape to emotion through their work.
NEW26
Various
18 September to 22 November 2026
ACCA is pleased to announce the return of the much-loved NEW exhibition series, celebrating the most compelling emerging artists from our region through bold and ambitious new commissions. Long regarded by artists and audiences alike as a benchmark for early-career practice, NEW originally ran at ACCA from 2003 – 2016, offering a vital platform for the next generation of Australian artists to experiment, take risks, and present major new work within a public institution.
Museum of Australian Photography - Monash
Link Map
Develop
Various
to 6 July 2026
Develop highlights a selection of standout 2025 Bachelor-degree graduates from Melbourne’s tertiary institutions, showcasing the fresh vision and talent of emerging photographic artists. This annual exhibition serves as a launchpad, offering each artist the opportunity to present their work as they step into the next phase of their careers. Featuring artists from seven universities and a broad spectrum of styles and techniques, Develop is a celebration of Australia’s next generation of photographers.
ROLLERCOASTER: winhangadurinya in motion
Brook Andrew
to 30 August 2026
A major commission by Brook Andrew, one of Australia’s most influential and internationally recognised artists. Working across visual art, research and long-term collaboration, Andrew’s practice reveals and reimagines the legacies of power and representation that continue to shape how histories are produced, circulated and understood. His work brings the unseen into view, unsettling inherited narratives and proposing new ways of seeing the entanglement of historical structures with contemporary life. This practice is informed by Andrew’s perspectives as a Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal person, and by sustained engagement with archives, museums and global systems of display.
Cruising for a Bruising
Kyle Archie Knight
8 July – 5 October 2026
Kyle Archie Knight is an Indigenous and queer photographic artist who completed a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (First Class Honours) at RMIT University in 2022.
For this exhibition, Knight presents a selection of work from his ongoing series, Cruising for a Bruising. This long-form documentary project serves as a camp love letter to the Australian suburbs.
Link Map
Develop
Various
to 6 July 2026
Develop highlights a selection of standout 2025 Bachelor-degree graduates from Melbourne’s tertiary institutions, showcasing the fresh vision and talent of emerging photographic artists. This annual exhibition serves as a launchpad, offering each artist the opportunity to present their work as they step into the next phase of their careers. Featuring artists from seven universities and a broad spectrum of styles and techniques, Develop is a celebration of Australia’s next generation of photographers.
ROLLERCOASTER: winhangadurinya in motion
Brook Andrew
to 30 August 2026
A major commission by Brook Andrew, one of Australia’s most influential and internationally recognised artists. Working across visual art, research and long-term collaboration, Andrew’s practice reveals and reimagines the legacies of power and representation that continue to shape how histories are produced, circulated and understood. His work brings the unseen into view, unsettling inherited narratives and proposing new ways of seeing the entanglement of historical structures with contemporary life. This practice is informed by Andrew’s perspectives as a Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal person, and by sustained engagement with archives, museums and global systems of display.
Cruising for a Bruising
Kyle Archie Knight
8 July – 5 October 2026
Kyle Archie Knight is an Indigenous and queer photographic artist who completed a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (First Class Honours) at RMIT University in 2022.
For this exhibition, Knight presents a selection of work from his ongoing series, Cruising for a Bruising. This long-form documentary project serves as a camp love letter to the Australian suburbs.
Heidi Museum of Modern Art - Bulleen
Link Map
BRASSAÏ
BRASSAÏ
25 July – 8 November 2026
This exhibition will present the most comprehensive survey of the work of the eminent Hungarian-born, French photographer Brassaï yet to be seen in Australia. With a focus on the artist’s iconic images of the city and its people by night, the exhibition will also consider his friendship with Picasso and other leading figures of the Parisian avant-garde, his experiments with Surrealism, and his hallmark photographs of graffiti. Produced in collaboration with the artist’s estate, this survey brings together more than 150 vintage prints and offers a fascinating visual journey into the intimate world of Paris in the 1930s.
Link Map
BRASSAÏ
BRASSAÏ
25 July – 8 November 2026
This exhibition will present the most comprehensive survey of the work of the eminent Hungarian-born, French photographer Brassaï yet to be seen in Australia. With a focus on the artist’s iconic images of the city and its people by night, the exhibition will also consider his friendship with Picasso and other leading figures of the Parisian avant-garde, his experiments with Surrealism, and his hallmark photographs of graffiti. Produced in collaboration with the artist’s estate, this survey brings together more than 150 vintage prints and offers a fascinating visual journey into the intimate world of Paris in the 1930s.
Bayside Gallery - Brighton
Link Map
Max Dupain and Ansel Adams: In search of perfection Nature
Max Dupain Ansel Adam
to 30 August 2026
Max Dupain (Australia, 1911–1992) and Ansel Adams (USA, 1902–1984) shaped the visual identity of their respective nations through the lens of modernist photography. Though working on opposite sides of the Pacific, they shared a profound commitment to formal clarity, tonal precision, and the expressive potential of light.
This exhibition brings Dupain’s iconic modernist studies of Australia’s built environments together with Adams’ majestic portrayals of the American wilderness in a compelling and illuminating pairing. These images are shown alongside works by their peers, including portraits and still lifes, to contextualise their place the development of twentieth-century photography.
Link Map
Max Dupain and Ansel Adams: In search of perfection Nature
Max Dupain Ansel Adam
to 30 August 2026
Max Dupain (Australia, 1911–1992) and Ansel Adams (USA, 1902–1984) shaped the visual identity of their respective nations through the lens of modernist photography. Though working on opposite sides of the Pacific, they shared a profound commitment to formal clarity, tonal precision, and the expressive potential of light.
This exhibition brings Dupain’s iconic modernist studies of Australia’s built environments together with Adams’ majestic portrayals of the American wilderness in a compelling and illuminating pairing. These images are shown alongside works by their peers, including portraits and still lifes, to contextualise their place the development of twentieth-century photography.
Frankston Arts Centre - Frankston
Link Map
Good Times
Rennie Ellis
to 1 August 2026
A selection of iconic imagery and celebratory photographs of everyday people enjoying life from one of Australia’s greatest storytellers. Rennie Ellis was a photographer known for his candid, documentary-style images capturing the essence of contemporary Australia, the glamour of social events like music festivals, fashion and nightclubs, as well as the gritty side of urbanity. Ellis’s photographs are celebrated for their warmth, non-judgmental approach, and focus on human interaction and remain an enduring affirmation of his times.
When Hollywood Came to Frankston
Unacknowledged
25 June to 10 October 2026
Celebrating Frankston’s 60th birthday, the FAC presents a selection of photographs from the Frankston City Library archives capturing Stanley Kramer’s film adaptation of former Langwarrin resident Nevil Shute’s bestselling novel On the Beach.
Funky Town
Simon Eeles
6 August to 7 November 2026
Once a New York-based photographer and now Frankston local, Simon Eeles focuses primarily on portrait and fashion photography. Having worked under renowned fashion photographer Craig McDean, Eeles's unique portraits of Frankston 'celebrities' combine sharp fashion-world glamour with an unpretentious approach rooted in joy and authenticity.
Link Map
Good Times
Rennie Ellis
to 1 August 2026
A selection of iconic imagery and celebratory photographs of everyday people enjoying life from one of Australia’s greatest storytellers. Rennie Ellis was a photographer known for his candid, documentary-style images capturing the essence of contemporary Australia, the glamour of social events like music festivals, fashion and nightclubs, as well as the gritty side of urbanity. Ellis’s photographs are celebrated for their warmth, non-judgmental approach, and focus on human interaction and remain an enduring affirmation of his times.
When Hollywood Came to Frankston
Unacknowledged
25 June to 10 October 2026
Celebrating Frankston’s 60th birthday, the FAC presents a selection of photographs from the Frankston City Library archives capturing Stanley Kramer’s film adaptation of former Langwarrin resident Nevil Shute’s bestselling novel On the Beach.
Funky Town
Simon Eeles
6 August to 7 November 2026
Once a New York-based photographer and now Frankston local, Simon Eeles focuses primarily on portrait and fashion photography. Having worked under renowned fashion photographer Craig McDean, Eeles's unique portraits of Frankston 'celebrities' combine sharp fashion-world glamour with an unpretentious approach rooted in joy and authenticity.
Cube 37 - Cube Gallery - Frankston
Link Map
Second Nature
Natalie Finney
to 27 June 2026
Step into a dreamlike realm of photographic gardens and curious specimens, where illusion feels natural and the line between truth and imitation becomes delightfully uncertain. Featuring sculptural elements and video projection, this exhibition invites viewers to look closely and consider how beauty, perception and imitation merge within both nature and its manufactured reflections.
Link Map
Second Nature
Natalie Finney
to 27 June 2026
Step into a dreamlike realm of photographic gardens and curious specimens, where illusion feels natural and the line between truth and imitation becomes delightfully uncertain. Featuring sculptural elements and video projection, this exhibition invites viewers to look closely and consider how beauty, perception and imitation merge within both nature and its manufactured reflections.
WEST OF MELBOURNE CITY
The Substation Billboard Gallery - Newport
Link Map
Grassroots Never Dies, Worldwide Nicole Chui to 27 September 2026
This outdoor billboard exhibition is presented by Nicole Chui in partnership with the Brunswick Zebras Football Club. It combines photographic imagery with embroidery work, displayed on the Substation's external billboard gallery format rather than inside a traditional gallery space, making it freely visible to passers-by at any time.
The work draws on grassroots football culture as its subject, looking at community and belonging through the lens of an amateur club. By pairing photography with stitched embroidery, the exhibition treats sport as a shared, ongoing cultural practice rather than a purely competitive pursuit. Entry is free, consistent with the Substation's public billboard format.
Link Map
Grassroots Never Dies, Worldwide Nicole Chui to 27 September 2026
This outdoor billboard exhibition is presented by Nicole Chui in partnership with the Brunswick Zebras Football Club. It combines photographic imagery with embroidery work, displayed on the Substation's external billboard gallery format rather than inside a traditional gallery space, making it freely visible to passers-by at any time.
The work draws on grassroots football culture as its subject, looking at community and belonging through the lens of an amateur club. By pairing photography with stitched embroidery, the exhibition treats sport as a shared, ongoing cultural practice rather than a purely competitive pursuit. Entry is free, consistent with the Substation's public billboard format.
Lon Spa - Point Lonsdale
Link Map
Unseen
Jane Fitzgerald
To 12 July 2026
Geelong-based photographer Jane Fitzgerald presents Unseen, a new series of infrared images capturing Point Lonsdale in a way that sits just beyond the visible. Using an all-spectrum camera, familiar coastal scenes shift in tone and contrast — offering a quieter, more abstract take on a well-known landscape.
Link Map
Unseen
Jane Fitzgerald
To 12 July 2026
Geelong-based photographer Jane Fitzgerald presents Unseen, a new series of infrared images capturing Point Lonsdale in a way that sits just beyond the visible. Using an all-spectrum camera, familiar coastal scenes shift in tone and contrast — offering a quieter, more abstract take on a well-known landscape.
NORTH OF MELBOURNE CITY
NORTHERN VICTORIA
Gold Street Gallery - Trentham East
Link Map
AG+
Chris Reid
15 April to 30 August 2026
Using various traditional silver gelatine processes I hope to convey the beauty of our world, from my homeland in Northern Ireland and my land of home in Laguna, Australia.
A camera is a tool, the darkroom a workshop and the print is life. My life is to print from the subconscious, from dreams and from the creative visions that lie in shadows of light.
Link Map
AG+
Chris Reid
15 April to 30 August 2026
Using various traditional silver gelatine processes I hope to convey the beauty of our world, from my homeland in Northern Ireland and my land of home in Laguna, Australia.
A camera is a tool, the darkroom a workshop and the print is life. My life is to print from the subconscious, from dreams and from the creative visions that lie in shadows of light.
Ballarat Mining Exchange - Ballarat
Link Map
World Press Photo
Various
8 August – 20 September 2026
For the first time the Art Gallery of Ballarat will host the World Press Photo, at the Mining Exchange. Each year, the contest highlights the outstanding work of photojournalists and documentary photographers from across the globe.
The exhibition offers broad perspectives and intimate insider views on issues such as the far-reaching impact of the climate crisis from Los Angeles to the Philippines, Mexico, and Norway, while also highlighting civic action and the fight for rights through images of protests in the United States and the women’s movements in Guatemala and youth protests in Madagascar. Engage with some of the most important photographs of the year at Art Gallery of Ballarat’s offsite venue, the Mining Exchange.
Link Map
World Press Photo
Various
8 August – 20 September 2026
For the first time the Art Gallery of Ballarat will host the World Press Photo, at the Mining Exchange. Each year, the contest highlights the outstanding work of photojournalists and documentary photographers from across the globe.
The exhibition offers broad perspectives and intimate insider views on issues such as the far-reaching impact of the climate crisis from Los Angeles to the Philippines, Mexico, and Norway, while also highlighting civic action and the fight for rights through images of protests in the United States and the women’s movements in Guatemala and youth protests in Madagascar. Engage with some of the most important photographs of the year at Art Gallery of Ballarat’s offsite venue, the Mining Exchange.
Castlemaine Art Museum - Castlemaine
Link Map
Groundswell
Arkeria Armstrong, Aunty Kerri Douglas, Melinda Harper, Judith van Heeren, Kate Just, Ruth O'Leary, Anna Read, Anna Schwann and lIka White.
To 18 October 2026
In order to effect change, you need a groundswell, a groundswell of opinion, a surge of emotion, a desire for new thinking. This exhibition celebrates artists who want to build a groundswell for change whether that be environmental, cultural, personal or political.
The exhibition pairs historical objects including embroidery, ceramics and metalwork from the CAM collection with work from contemporary artists. It builds on the CAM exhibition Wildflowers curated by Sarah Frazer and the recent MASC public art commission awarded to Laura Woodward both of which celebrate the woman founders of the Castlemaine Art Museum.
is an exhibition of profiles, slanted light, shadowy forms and occasional smiles. Paintings by Polly Hurry, Arnold Shore, W D McInnes, Hugh Ramsay, Mary Cecil Allen, A M E Bale and May Vale, among many others, explore the play of light on skin and fabric. The 19th and 20th century works from the collection form a wall of painted ghosts. Traces of once-living subjects are caught in a moment of stillness. They are not relaxed, they are posed and composed, tense, cigarette in hand, faces taut with concentration.
Link Map
Groundswell
Arkeria Armstrong, Aunty Kerri Douglas, Melinda Harper, Judith van Heeren, Kate Just, Ruth O'Leary, Anna Read, Anna Schwann and lIka White.
To 18 October 2026
In order to effect change, you need a groundswell, a groundswell of opinion, a surge of emotion, a desire for new thinking. This exhibition celebrates artists who want to build a groundswell for change whether that be environmental, cultural, personal or political.
The exhibition pairs historical objects including embroidery, ceramics and metalwork from the CAM collection with work from contemporary artists. It builds on the CAM exhibition Wildflowers curated by Sarah Frazer and the recent MASC public art commission awarded to Laura Woodward both of which celebrate the woman founders of the Castlemaine Art Museum.
is an exhibition of profiles, slanted light, shadowy forms and occasional smiles. Paintings by Polly Hurry, Arnold Shore, W D McInnes, Hugh Ramsay, Mary Cecil Allen, A M E Bale and May Vale, among many others, explore the play of light on skin and fabric. The 19th and 20th century works from the collection form a wall of painted ghosts. Traces of once-living subjects are caught in a moment of stillness. They are not relaxed, they are posed and composed, tense, cigarette in hand, faces taut with concentration.
Horsham Regional Gallery - Horsham
Link Map
Framed in Footy: AFL Photography
Michael Willson
to 4 October 2026
As the creator of many of the AFL’s defining images, Michael Willson presents Framed in Footy a considered selection of his most resonant photographs, foregrounding the artistic qualities inherent in his practice while also revealing the pathos and raw emotion that animates the game.
Link Map
Framed in Footy: AFL Photography
Michael Willson
to 4 October 2026
As the creator of many of the AFL’s defining images, Michael Willson presents Framed in Footy a considered selection of his most resonant photographs, foregrounding the artistic qualities inherent in his practice while also revealing the pathos and raw emotion that animates the game.
WESTERN VICTORIA
Hamilton Gallery - Hamilton
Link Map
Forces of Nature
Various
To 26 July 2026
Drawing on the Hamilton Gallery collection, Forces of Nature explores how artists in China and Japan have imagined the natural world. Tracing centuries of exchange and adaptation, this exhibition reveals how elements, seasons and landscapes become poetic frameworks for balance and belief, as well as a carefully shaped cultural vision.
Link Map
Forces of Nature
Various
To 26 July 2026
Drawing on the Hamilton Gallery collection, Forces of Nature explores how artists in China and Japan have imagined the natural world. Tracing centuries of exchange and adaptation, this exhibition reveals how elements, seasons and landscapes become poetic frameworks for balance and belief, as well as a carefully shaped cultural vision.
