reFrame-reFocus
all about photographs
EXHIBITIONS
DOCKLANDS
XYZ Photo Gallery - Docklands
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This is hard to find, Details on the website.
Creatives x Creatives
Andrew Tan / Arnold Newman / Cara Mand / Craig Watson / Catherine Black / David Pattinson / David Tatnall / Derek Nguyễn / garrie maguire / Henri Cartier Bresson / Isabel Armstrong / Jackson Low / Jair Garcia / Jeffrey Henson Scales /Lewis Morley / Eureka O’Hanlon / Nadar / Natalie Finney / Norman Seeff / Roger Hyland / Rosalind Pach / Sioainne Costello / Wolfgang Sievers 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.
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This is hard to find, Details on the website.
Creatives x Creatives
Andrew Tan / Arnold Newman / Cara Mand / Craig Watson / Catherine Black / David Pattinson / David Tatnall / Derek Nguyễn / garrie maguire / Henri Cartier Bresson / Isabel Armstrong / Jackson Low / Jair Garcia / Jeffrey Henson Scales /Lewis Morley / Eureka O’Hanlon / Nadar / Natalie Finney / Norman Seeff / Roger Hyland / Rosalind Pach / Sioainne Costello / Wolfgang Sievers 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.
INNER CITY
Hillvale Gallery - Brunswick
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To Ourselves
Warsan Mohammed
25 July to 23 August 2026
This exhibition follows a protagonist on a journey to understand her longing for a motherland she is unable to experience in its pre-conflict state, while taking agency over her Somali identity. As she navigates growing up in Australia, she seeks to understand her own relationship to the motherland. She grapples with the feeling of missing a place she has never truly known, carrying memories that were passed down to her rather than lived herself. Through stories, photographs, language, and community, she pieces together an understanding of home, searching for connection across distance and generations.
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To Ourselves
Warsan Mohammed
25 July to 23 August 2026
This exhibition follows a protagonist on a journey to understand her longing for a motherland she is unable to experience in its pre-conflict state, while taking agency over her Somali identity. As she navigates growing up in Australia, she seeks to understand her own relationship to the motherland. She grapples with the feeling of missing a place she has never truly known, carrying memories that were passed down to her rather than lived herself. Through stories, photographs, language, and community, she pieces together an understanding of home, searching for connection across distance and generations.
CITY
City Gallery - Melbourne
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The Green Bus
Andrew Chapman
3 September to 19 February 2027
The Green Bus takes exhibition viewers on a photographic journey through the familiar streets of the city.
Melbourne is the muse of photographer Andrew Chapman, who has spent much of his life documenting the metropolis and the events that have fashioned it. Through a selection of 55 photographs spanning 55 years from 1971, he reveals the social history and community life that have played out on the streets and in the spaces that bring the city’s people together. Without nostalgia but with a candid and curious eye, he points to the traces of the past that mark the passage of time and the chimeric promises of urban life in the 21st century.
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The Green Bus
Andrew Chapman
3 September to 19 February 2027
The Green Bus takes exhibition viewers on a photographic journey through the familiar streets of the city.
Melbourne is the muse of photographer Andrew Chapman, who has spent much of his life documenting the metropolis and the events that have fashioned it. Through a selection of 55 photographs spanning 55 years from 1971, he reveals the social history and community life that have played out on the streets and in the spaces that bring the city’s people together. Without nostalgia but with a candid and curious eye, he points to the traces of the past that mark the passage of time and the chimeric promises of urban life in the 21st century.
Melbourne Camera Club - South Melbourne
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THE BRIGHT SIDE (OF THINGS)
Andew Tan, Bob Warfield, Bruce Dowding David Watts, Helen Lang, Helen Mavoa Jim O'Donnell, Kazi Fattah, Leanne Poole Robin Tully, Alison Macleod, Wayne Harridge members
24 + 25 + 31 October + 1 November 2026
The annual exhibition of the Conceptual group.
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THE BRIGHT SIDE (OF THINGS)
Andew Tan, Bob Warfield, Bruce Dowding David Watts, Helen Lang, Helen Mavoa Jim O'Donnell, Kazi Fattah, Leanne Poole Robin Tully, Alison Macleod, Wayne Harridge members
24 + 25 + 31 October + 1 November 2026
The annual exhibition of the Conceptual group.
NGV Ian Potter Centre - Melbourne
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
Sofitel Hotel - Melbourne
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Behind the Curtain
Casey Horsfield
to 30 September 2026
EDiscover Behind the Curtain, an exclusive photographic exhibition presented in partnership with Victorian Opera, offering a rare glimpse into the artistry, craftsmanship and unseen moments that bring a performance to life.
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Behind the Curtain
Casey Horsfield
to 30 September 2026
EDiscover Behind the Curtain, an exclusive photographic exhibition presented in partnership with Victorian Opera, offering a rare glimpse into the artistry, craftsmanship and unseen moments that bring a performance to life.
Vic Archives Centre - North Melbourne
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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 12 April 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.
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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 12 April 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
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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!
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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
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art - Southbank
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Are you lonely tonight?
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
Polly Borland, Seth Brown, Lucy Liu, Kayla Mattes
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.
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Are you lonely tonight?
I’m so lonesome I could cry.
Polly Borland, Seth Brown, Lucy Liu, Kayla Mattes
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.
Pride Centre - St Kilda
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Portraits 168
Steven Broadhurst
23 July – 6 September 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.
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Portraits 168
Steven Broadhurst
23 July – 6 September 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.
Mars - Windsor
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Stones Will Remain Stones
Ayman Kaake
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
‘Misbaha / The Prayer Beads / مسبحة’ serves as a visual representation of Ayman Kaake’s identity and a reflection of his experience within a patriarchal Middle Eastern environment. The work explores the weight of societal expectations and the constraints placed upon LGBTQIA+ individuals.
By incorporating prayer beads as a symbol of concealing one’s true identity, Kaake conveys the pressures to conform to societal norms surrounding marriage, children, and the preservation of family names. In a world where homosexuality remains illegal in over 74 countries, the piece raises a poignant question: how far can a queer person go to fit social, political, and cultural norms in order to survive?
Evolving
J Davies
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
Evolving positions queer and trans existence not as deviation, but as adaptation. In a world shaped by rigid binaries, inherited shame, and systems that attempt to discipline difference, survival has required transformation. We have learned to grow through pressure, build new languages for our bodies and lives, and imagine futures beyond the moulds handed to us.
Where institutions seek conformity, queer and trans communities respond with invention. We reimagine kinship, reshape intimacy, and create spaces where care, pleasure, humour, and joy can flourish. What is often framed as otherness reveals itself instead as evolution: a capacity to shift, expand, and refuse erasure.
It Felt Like My Body Was a Weapon (I Couldn’t Help It)
Kyle Archie Knight
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
This work aims to examine the gay male gaze, while catering to it, performing it, and questioning it. A culmination of gay experience, particularly within gay internet culture, whereby salacious imagery is often mistakenly interpreted as a warrant for sexual advancement. Objects of lust, the act of cruising, and the tension between wanting to be desired, while not expressly handing it over are explored within the subsequent works.
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Stones Will Remain Stones
Ayman Kaake
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
‘Misbaha / The Prayer Beads / مسبحة’ serves as a visual representation of Ayman Kaake’s identity and a reflection of his experience within a patriarchal Middle Eastern environment. The work explores the weight of societal expectations and the constraints placed upon LGBTQIA+ individuals.
By incorporating prayer beads as a symbol of concealing one’s true identity, Kaake conveys the pressures to conform to societal norms surrounding marriage, children, and the preservation of family names. In a world where homosexuality remains illegal in over 74 countries, the piece raises a poignant question: how far can a queer person go to fit social, political, and cultural norms in order to survive?
Evolving
J Davies
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
Evolving positions queer and trans existence not as deviation, but as adaptation. In a world shaped by rigid binaries, inherited shame, and systems that attempt to discipline difference, survival has required transformation. We have learned to grow through pressure, build new languages for our bodies and lives, and imagine futures beyond the moulds handed to us.
Where institutions seek conformity, queer and trans communities respond with invention. We reimagine kinship, reshape intimacy, and create spaces where care, pleasure, humour, and joy can flourish. What is often framed as otherness reveals itself instead as evolution: a capacity to shift, expand, and refuse erasure.
It Felt Like My Body Was a Weapon (I Couldn’t Help It)
Kyle Archie Knight
to 5 SEPTEMBER 2026
This work aims to examine the gay male gaze, while catering to it, performing it, and questioning it. A culmination of gay experience, particularly within gay internet culture, whereby salacious imagery is often mistakenly interpreted as a warrant for sexual advancement. Objects of lust, the act of cruising, and the tension between wanting to be desired, while not expressly handing it over are explored within the subsequent works.
Glen Eira City Council Gallery - Caulfield
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Fabulous 70s: a celebration of Melbourne fashion
Prue Acton, Jenny Bannister, Sally Browne, Clarence Chai, Mr Simon, Miss Hartnell, Leon Haskin, Elvie Hill, Van Roth, Norma Tullo and others.
9 October to 20 December 2026
From vibrant colours and striking patterns to experimental styles, the exhibition reflects a time of creativity, individuality and cultural change.
Featuring garments, accessories, photography and archival material from public and private collections, this exhibition invites all ages to explore, connect and be inspired by the distinctive style of the decade — from bohemian to disco and beyond.
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Fabulous 70s: a celebration of Melbourne fashion
Prue Acton, Jenny Bannister, Sally Browne, Clarence Chai, Mr Simon, Miss Hartnell, Leon Haskin, Elvie Hill, Van Roth, Norma Tullo and others.
9 October to 20 December 2026
From vibrant colours and striking patterns to experimental styles, the exhibition reflects a time of creativity, individuality and cultural change.
Featuring garments, accessories, photography and archival material from public and private collections, this exhibition invites all ages to explore, connect and be inspired by the distinctive style of the decade — from bohemian to disco and beyond.
Museum of Australian Photography - Monash
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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
To 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.
Bowness Photography Prize 2026 exhibition
Various
12 September to 8 November 2026
The Bowness Photography Prize invites entries from artists working with photography. Entries for the prize will be considered from still photo-based media including analogue and digital photography, produced within the last year.
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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
To 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.
Bowness Photography Prize 2026 exhibition
Various
12 September to 8 November 2026
The Bowness Photography Prize invites entries from artists working with photography. Entries for the prize will be considered from still photo-based media including analogue and digital photography, produced within the last year.
ArtSpace - Box Hill
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After-Image
Emma X Zhang
31 July to 5 September 2026
This multidisciplinary exhibition transforms natural phenomena into installations, using multichannel projection, LED technologies, and material processing to translate collected observations into works that move across scales, from microscopic ecologies to the digital systems that reframe them.
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After-Image
Emma X Zhang
31 July to 5 September 2026
This multidisciplinary exhibition transforms natural phenomena into installations, using multichannel projection, LED technologies, and material processing to translate collected observations into works that move across scales, from microscopic ecologies to the digital systems that reframe them.
ArtSpace at Realm - Maroondah
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UNBOUND: New Photo Zines
Minami Ivory, Nik Ranepura, Yask Desai, Ryley Clarke, Patricia Sofra and Hussein Abdirahman Mohamu
to 13 September 2026
First appearing in the CCP.PE.ZINE series in 2025, these artists represent the next generation of Australian photography. Emerging from CCP’s long-standing commitment to accessible publishing and artistic experimentation, this exhibition expands these works from the printed page to the gallery wall.
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UNBOUND: New Photo Zines
Minami Ivory, Nik Ranepura, Yask Desai, Ryley Clarke, Patricia Sofra and Hussein Abdirahman Mohamu
to 13 September 2026
First appearing in the CCP.PE.ZINE series in 2025, these artists represent the next generation of Australian photography. Emerging from CCP’s long-standing commitment to accessible publishing and artistic experimentation, this exhibition expands these works from the printed page to the gallery wall.
Heidi Museum of Modern Art - Bulleen
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BRASSAÏ
BRASSAÏ
to 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.
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BRASSAÏ
BRASSAÏ
to 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
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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.
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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.
Kingston Arts Centre - Moorabbin
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Water bodies
Nici Cumpston (Barkandji people), Mandy Quadrio (Trawlwoolway, Laremairamenner), Auntie Netty Shaw (Trawlwoolway, Tyereelore, Bunurong), Aunty Dyan Summers (Bunurong, Bass Strait Islander, Trawlwoolway), Judy Watson (Waanyi people), Lisa Waup(Gunditjmara, TSI)
to 29 August 2026
Kingston Arts presents Water bodies, a major exhibition of contemporary First Peoples’ art exploring the significance of water, climate change, Country and culture.
The exhibition explores both large and small waterways across the continent, from the changing conditions of the Birrarung and Barka river systems and the decline of southern ocean kelp forests, through to the impacts of flooding events and changing conditions along local creeks and waterways.
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Water bodies
Nici Cumpston (Barkandji people), Mandy Quadrio (Trawlwoolway, Laremairamenner), Auntie Netty Shaw (Trawlwoolway, Tyereelore, Bunurong), Aunty Dyan Summers (Bunurong, Bass Strait Islander, Trawlwoolway), Judy Watson (Waanyi people), Lisa Waup(Gunditjmara, TSI)
to 29 August 2026
Kingston Arts presents Water bodies, a major exhibition of contemporary First Peoples’ art exploring the significance of water, climate change, Country and culture.
The exhibition explores both large and small waterways across the continent, from the changing conditions of the Birrarung and Barka river systems and the decline of southern ocean kelp forests, through to the impacts of flooding events and changing conditions along local creeks and waterways.
Frankston Arts Centre - Frankston
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When Hollywood Came to Frankston
Unacknowledged
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.
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When Hollywood Came to Frankston
Unacknowledged
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
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Postcards from Frankston
Various
to 17 October 2026
Postcards are often described as the "SMS messages" of the early 20th century, offering a quick, affordable way to send short greetings, share news, and boast of travels. Postcards captured snapshots of both the ordinary and the spectacular. Evoking memories of a golden age, they have historical value and are often the best recorded images of buildings, streetscapes, and neighbourhoods.
Featuring community contributions and a chorus of nostalgia in celebration of Frankston City's 60th anniversary.
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Postcards from Frankston
Various
to 17 October 2026
Postcards are often described as the "SMS messages" of the early 20th century, offering a quick, affordable way to send short greetings, share news, and boast of travels. Postcards captured snapshots of both the ordinary and the spectacular. Evoking memories of a golden age, they have historical value and are often the best recorded images of buildings, streetscapes, and neighbourhoods.
Featuring community contributions and a chorus of nostalgia in celebration of Frankston City's 60th anniversary.
WEST OF MELBOURNE CITY
The Substation Billboard Gallery - Newport
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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.
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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.
NORTH OF MELBOURNE CITY
NORTHERN VICTORIA
Gold Street Gallery - Trentham East
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AG+
Chris Reid
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.
Insecta
Ellie Young
2 September to 15 November 2026
“Insecta is defined as the most species-rich class of organisms, comprising approximately 1 million described species, characterised by three major body divisions—head, thorax, and abdomen—and a single pair of locomotory appendages on each thoracic segment.”
Memento’s
Danielle Edwards
18 November to 7 February 2026
A memento often helps one remember a particular moment in time, a place, or an event.
A souvenir or keepsake that is a signal to a memory locked in the past, until the memento brings it into the present.
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.
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AG+
Chris Reid
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.
Insecta
Ellie Young
2 September to 15 November 2026
“Insecta is defined as the most species-rich class of organisms, comprising approximately 1 million described species, characterised by three major body divisions—head, thorax, and abdomen—and a single pair of locomotory appendages on each thoracic segment.”
Memento’s
Danielle Edwards
18 November to 7 February 2026
A memento often helps one remember a particular moment in time, a place, or an event.
A souvenir or keepsake that is a signal to a memory locked in the past, until the memento brings it into the present.
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
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World Press Photo
Various
To 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.
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World Press Photo
Various
To 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
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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.
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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
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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.
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025: A National Portrait Gallery Exhibition
Various
17 October 2026 to 31 January 2027
Now in its 18th year, the National Photographic Portrait Prize supports and celebrates photographic portraiture in Australia. Each year the prize attracts thousands of entrants from emerging and established artistic talent across the country. In 2025, the judges – writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery Serena Bentley, and Leigh Robb, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia selected 48 finalists from a field of more than 1400 entries.
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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.
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025: A National Portrait Gallery Exhibition
Various
17 October 2026 to 31 January 2027
Now in its 18th year, the National Photographic Portrait Prize supports and celebrates photographic portraiture in Australia. Each year the prize attracts thousands of entrants from emerging and established artistic talent across the country. In 2025, the judges – writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery Serena Bentley, and Leigh Robb, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia selected 48 finalists from a field of more than 1400 entries.
EAST VICTORIA
WAS Gallery - Warragul
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BLOCKIES: The Failure of the Soldier Settlement Scheme
Greg Branson
To o 5 September, 2026
Blockies a photographic exhibition features a collection of powerful black and white hand-printed silver gelatin photographs. The exhibition explores the devastating impact of the Soldier Settlement scheme on Australian soldiers who returned from the First World War.
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BLOCKIES: The Failure of the Soldier Settlement Scheme
Greg Branson
To o 5 September, 2026
Blockies a photographic exhibition features a collection of powerful black and white hand-printed silver gelatin photographs. The exhibition explores the devastating impact of the Soldier Settlement scheme on Australian soldiers who returned from the First World War.
SOUTHERN NSW
MAMA Murray Art Museum Albury - Albury
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National Photography Prize 2026
Various
To 22 November 2026
Every two years the National Photography Prize offers an opportunity to consider the vital role of photography in contemporary art in Australia. The National Photography Prize brings together artists from across Australia who are developing and challenging photographic language and techniques.
A fever of a memory
Ruth Davys
To 8 November 2026
The popular MAMA Kids Gallery welcomes its fifth artist commission, Ruth Davys’ Yamandhu wudhagarbinya?, an installation that shares Wiradjuri Language and culture with curious kids. The title is a Wiradjuri phrase that in English asks, ‘Are you listening?’. It is an invitation to tune in to the words spoken in the space and perhaps bring more Wiradjuri Language into daily practice.
Works from the Collection
Rosemary Laing
To 8 November 2026
This collection of photographic works recently gifted to the museum by the artist’s estate, provides an introduction to the scope and range of Rosemary Laing’s practice. Through constructed visual narratives, Laing’s photographs invite viewers to reconsider the way land, identity, and memory intersect and provide an opportunity to reflect through photography upon the Australian landscape, colonial histories, environmental change, and the politics of place.
Link Map
National Photography Prize 2026
Various
To 22 November 2026
Every two years the National Photography Prize offers an opportunity to consider the vital role of photography in contemporary art in Australia. The National Photography Prize brings together artists from across Australia who are developing and challenging photographic language and techniques.
A fever of a memory
Ruth Davys
To 8 November 2026
The popular MAMA Kids Gallery welcomes its fifth artist commission, Ruth Davys’ Yamandhu wudhagarbinya?, an installation that shares Wiradjuri Language and culture with curious kids. The title is a Wiradjuri phrase that in English asks, ‘Are you listening?’. It is an invitation to tune in to the words spoken in the space and perhaps bring more Wiradjuri Language into daily practice.
Works from the Collection
Rosemary Laing
To 8 November 2026
This collection of photographic works recently gifted to the museum by the artist’s estate, provides an introduction to the scope and range of Rosemary Laing’s practice. Through constructed visual narratives, Laing’s photographs invite viewers to reconsider the way land, identity, and memory intersect and provide an opportunity to reflect through photography upon the Australian landscape, colonial histories, environmental change, and the politics of place.
