Premiering as part of PHOTO24

In The little things we fight for, Eden Menta addresses the Photo 2024 thematic strand of Social Futures, exploring the intersections of queerness and neurodiversity through ideas around a sense of self and place in the contemporary landscape.

Drawing from deeply personal experiences, Menta unpacks the past and contemplates the present, teasing out what it means to belong – or not – as the case may be. By addressing these realities, Menta fights for a future that recognises the intersectionality of different identities and fosters safe, inclusive spaces to feel valued and supported.

Presented as a solo exhibition at the Arts Project Australia gallery in Collingwood Yards, The little things we fight for addresses universal tensions and ideas through Menta’s intimate lens.

Opening event: 4 – 6pm, Saturday 2 March 2024, Arts Project Australia gallery, Collingwood Yards. Exhibition opened by Richard Lewer.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Benalla Art Gallery and Arts Project Australia proudly present Oh, The Places I’ve Seen! — a Summer Gallery Shop exhibition by Chris O’Brien.

Chris O’Brien is a multi- disciplinary artist who works in painting, printmaking, sculpture, video and artist zines. He is interested in representing domestic dwellings that feature him, his friends and the TV personalities living there. Works are imbued with narratives, whether drawn from memory, or invented stories involving thieves, ghosts and animals.

Beyond his personal memories, works are visually informed by materials such as real estate brochures, photos, Google Earth maps, and architectural plans.

Chris will also feature as part of Benalla Art Gallery’s First Mondays series with an in coversation style talk at 10am on Monday 5 February 2024. To rsvp your attendance at this event please contact gallery@benalla.vic.gov.au

Benalla Art Gallery has full wheelchair access via a ramp entrance at the front of the building.  The café deck and floor can also be accessed via a ramp.

Disabled toilets and infant facilities are also available within the building.

Arts Project Australia’s Annual Gala Exhibition is an end of year celebration of the achievement of the studio and satellite artists and acknowledges their unique contribution to contemporary art.

Over 200 artworks spanning painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, ceramics and textiles will be on display and available to purchase. Also available will be calendars, cards and merchandise.

Held at APA’s Collingwood Yards gallery, artwork sales will commence at 3pm, 9 December 2023 in conjunction with an end of year celebration.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Arts Project Australia is excited to announce that Terry Williams will be included in Craft Victoria’s end-of-year exhibition Everyone’s heard of a dragon.

Guest curated by artists James Lemon and Bobby Corica, Everyone’s Heard of a Dragon explores the profound impact of fantasy and material practice as tools for navigating one’s experiences. This charged realm, situated between the truths of our immediate reality and the expansive realm of possibilities, shapes our surroundings, offering solace and imbuing the world with meaning.

Materiality plays a pivotal role in shaping both fantasy and truth. It demands meticulous attention and immersion, serving as a bridge that connects things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass. What joys can we toil, passing threads between our fingers or simply bringing a vessel to the lip to sip? Everyone’s Heard of a Dragon invites artists, designers, and craftspeople to consider our shared obsessions with materials and how they can affirm and expand our unique stories.

To paraphrase Ursula K. Le Guin: If imagination is the instrument of ethics, what forms shall our melodies take?

Everyone’s heard of a dragon will open at Craft on Thursday 16 November, 6-8pm.

Sign up here to receive a preview of the exhibition ahead of the opening.

Craft is wheelchair accessible, with a wheelchair-accessible bathroom. For those with limited mobility, Craft’s premises have a lift which takes you to our opening space.

Please note that the laneway to Craft has a sloped surface.

Craft also welcome guide and assistance animals in the gallery.

Tones of Home draws together artists from APA, Melbourne, regional Victoria, and north Queensland to present works inspired by domestic and urban spaces.

The exhibition extends beyond these settings to consider ‘what makes a place, a home?’, touching on notions of family, community, belonging, connection, love, comfort, safety, and personal histories. 

Featuring APA artsits Steven Ajzenberg, Miles Howard-Wilks, Chris Mason, Chris O’Brien, Lisa Reid, Anthony Romagnano, Georgia Szmerling and Amani Tia alongside Atong Atem, Susie Buykx, Cooper+Spowart, Erub Arts Torres Strait and Ghost Net Collective, Aishah Kenton and Ron McBurnie.

Tones of Home is curated by Eric Nash, Director Benalla Art Gallery.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Visit the exhibition from home

Paul Quick is an emerging artist whose work reflects the trivialities, joys, and interactions of day-to-day life.

Adult Human Being is an exhibition of self-portraiture showcasing Quick’s vivid colour palette, expressive and incidental mark making, and discerning use of text, all employed to articulate astute observations of self and place.

Adult Human Being will open on Thursday 12 October at Res Artis. This exhibition will continue until Saturday 11 November.

Res Artis is open on Thursdays and Fridays (12-5pm) during the exhibition period.

Entry to Res Artis Project Space is through Gertrude Glasshouse during gallery hours, or by private appointment at other times.

Gertrude Glasshouse is fully wheelchair accessible, however Glasshouse Road is an uneven bluestone street. Glasshouse Road can be accessed by car from Wellington Street and passengers can be dropped off at the door.

Ambulant toilet and baby change facilities available.

For more information please email office@resartis.org

Within My Skin explores the bodily connection and presence of the female figure within a contemporary landscape.

Arts Project Australia artists Emily Dober, Bronwyn Hack, Sammi-Jo Matta and Lisa Reid in collaboration with Ema Shin, explore themes of sexuality, fragility and identity through an alluring and interactive symposium of textiles, installation, collage, photography and the drawn line.

Within My Skin is curated by APA staff artists Jodie Kipps and Alysia Rees.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Sensitive Antennae is a group exhibition exploring the magnetism of works where the artist appears to tap into inexplicable energy.

Emotive, abstracted and minimal, they are released from the structures of fixed, coherent form, speaking to the transcendent beauty and elegance found in nature and avoiding unnecessary noise.

The exhibition will include ceramics, painting, drawing and textiles and examines pivotal periods of pure abstraction in the practice of the exhibiting artists.

Sensitive Antennae features works by Bronwyn Hack, Ruth Howard, Julian Martin, Fulli Andrinopoulos, Ian Gold, Kaye McDonald, Salome Felsinger, and Wendy Dawson, curated by APA gallery manager and curator Jo Salt.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

From Here To Space explores the soft sculpture practice of established Arts Project Australia artist Terry Williams.

Terry Williams has been making art for over three decades, with a focus on soft sculpture. Easily recognisable, his works are multi-faceted and defined by their truth to materials and punk aesthetic.

Curated by Vince Alessi, From Here To Space brings together a series of diverse figures and space helmets, celebrating Williams’ interest in the human form and all things space.

Defined by his deft and obsessive interpretation of figures and objects, Terry Williams’ sculptural work is both real and imagined.

Williams’ practice bypasses common traditions, the artist instead adopting an immersive and idiosyncratic process where adept crafting results in the emergence of multi-faceted creations.

The tactile, pillow-like works constructed with found materials feature exaggerated, conspicuous stitching and are intensely physical and bulging in their form.

This exhibition continues until Saturday 9 September, 2023 at Conners Conners Gallery, Fitzroy.

Arts Project Australia and Leonard Joel Auction House are thrilled to announce APA artist Michael Camakaris’ solo exhibition It’s Very Nearly All Greek To Me…

It’s Very Nearly All Greek To Me… will take place at Leonard Joel Auction House from Friday 23 June – Wednesday 28 June.

Michael Camakaris is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice encompasses drawing, painting, collage, printmaking and ceramics.

Characterised by subtle detailing and layered graphical mark-making Michael’s bold compositions often draw from art history, referencing surrealism, dada and abstraction.

Commenting on industrialisation and the environment through the depiction of apocalyptic scenes and sensitive renderings of the natural world, conceptual rigour drives Michael’s work.

In 2019-20 Leonard Joel Auction House welcomed Michael as part of a new Traineeship Program.

Michael joined the Leonard Joel team for two days a week developing arts industry auction experience. He worked across all departments, developing a range of skills to support the business, including client and colleague-facing skills, handling, presentation, auction and despatch skills across various departments.

A celebration of the time spent, It’s Very Nearly All Greek To Me… showcases Michael’s distinct style and talent.

2 x 2 presents solo exhibitions by Ross O’Meara and Jacob Cartelli, each artist exploring the parameters of colour and form through contrasting lenses.

Ross O’Meara’s translucent brushwork appears to float on the surface of the paper, the elegant, whimsical compositions possessing a soft energy that speaks to slow, meditative movement.

Jacob Cartelli’s works are characterised by formations of dense juxtaposed colour, the formal elements fusing together in dynamic fashion to create thick, rich, saturated surfaces. For these artists, colour is an essential expressive tool, capable of evoking a range of responses.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Catherine Bell and Cathy Staughton, aka The Two Cathies, have worked together on projects since The Portrait Exchange (2009), their first collaborative venture for Arts Project Australia.

The creative partnership’s current project involves working exclusively with the infamous Boston Dynamics Robot ‘Spot’ during a six-month residency at RMIT Health Transformation Lab.

In the collaboration each artist performs as a muse for the other and their individual practices are strengthened. Broader contexts of intersectional feminism and social activism inform this method. Staughton paints portraits of Bell, and Bell produces video portraits to document their collaborative interaction. From this process, The Two Cathies produce separate artworks. For this collaboration, Staughton’s paintings and Bell’s videos are exhibited alongside each other and shown as one body of work.

The methodology challenges stereotypes about disability and works within a framework of feminist principles to demonstrate how lived experiences influence and align with identity politics in contemporary art. Bell’s silent films acknowledge that Staughton is hearing impaired and, for a brief time in history, the genre provided an inclusive experience for the deaf community to fully participate in the popular cultural form.

Dog Robot Space Star fuses art, film and technology. Bell’s Dadaist-inspired film explores the impact of COVID lockdowns on the creative psyche and the effect of prolonged, enforced, social isolation on marginalised and vulnerable communities. Staughton’s series of two-dimensional artworks investigate the artist’s passion for technology, and empathic relationship with ‘Spot’ the Boston Dynamics Robot. Situated together, the exhibition raises ethical questions about our duty of care to the technology that companions and serves us. Do we owe a debt of gratitude to the technological devices we bond with over extended periods of time? How should we respond when the technology we rely on malfunctions, becomes old and outdated, ceases and desists?

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Dog Robot Space Star has been made in partnership with RMIT’s Health Transformation Lab, the host venue for The Two Cathies artist residency.

Gertrude Glasshouse is fully wheelchair accessible, however Glasshouse Road is an uneven bluestone street. Glasshouse Road can be accessed by car from Wellington Street and passengers can be dropped off at the door.

Ambulant toilet and baby change facilities available.

Arts Project Australia is excited to announce that APA artists Alan Constable, Cathy Staughton, Eden Menta and Mark Smith will feature in the National Portrait Gallery’s PORTRAIT23: Identity exhibition opening Friday 10 March.

The National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait23: Identity is a major exhibition of new work from multi-award-winning contemporary Australian artists and collectives working across every state and territory.

Each APA artist worked in collaboration with an external artist to produce a portrait exploring the concept of identity. The portraits produced by these artists will feature in this exhibition alongside the APA artists’ own works.

Alan Constable will feature work alongside Andrew Curtis, Cathy Staughton will feature work alongside Clare Rae, Eden Menta will feature work alongside Janelle Low and Mark Smith will feature work alongside Ross Coulter.

PORTRAIT23: Identity is an exhibition of portraiture, but not as you know it.

In PORTRAIT23: Identity, award-winning contemporary Australian artists and collectives push the boundaries of traditional format.

This diverse collection features street art, textiles, performance, photography, ceramics, painting, drawing, soft sculpture, and bronze creations, all of which challenge the conventional limits of portraiture.

Many of these innovative works seamlessly blend into installations, videos, and animations, inviting you to step inside the portrait itself.

With the contributions of twenty-three remarkable artists and collectives, this exhibition explores the profound journey of self-representation, community, history, and modern society. These artists delve into deeply personal reflections on themes that resonate universally, including cultural knowledge, feminism, visibility and invisibility, activism, and the narratives of migration.

Portrait23 is an artistic celebration of the diversity and complexity of the self.

Visitors are asked to assume nothing, question everything and expect no answers.

Arts Project Australia is excited to announce that APA artists Lisa Reid and Mark Smith will feature in the second iteration of The National Gallery of Victoria’s Melbourne Now.

Opening Friday 24 March, Melbourne Now is a major exhibition which celebrates the latest art, architecture, design and cultural practices from local creatives shaping Melbourne.

Melbourne Now will be displayed throughout all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, including permanent collection galleries, showcasing new works and commissions by emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners as well as local creatives.

Find new and commissioned works by Lisa Reid and Mark Smith on Level 2 of the gallery.

For Melbourne Now, Arts Project Australia will also be presenting a day of artist talks, live demonstrations and screenings in Community Hall.

Showcasing the artwork and creative ideas of Melbourne Now artists Mark Smith and Lisa Reid along with leading APA artists Bronwyn Hack, Alan Constable and Christian Hansen.

Visitors are invited to drop by and be a part of this day of joyful creative expression, exploration and discussion.

Melbourne Now is taking place at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia until Sunday 20 August.

For those with limited mobility, it is recommended that you access The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia via the entrance on the Russell Street Extension or via the Fed Square atrium off Flinders Street, as the outdoor path through the main Fed Square area has a sloped and uneven surface.

ACKNOWLEDGE ME showcases the unstoppable abundance of the practice of Arts Project Australia artist Adrian Lazzaro.

Based around Lazzaro’s epic scrapbook collection, Acknowledge Me combines the elegant punk materiality of Adrian’s work with the electric free-jazz hum of Will McConnell’s sizzling texta drawings, the eerily endearing gloopy charm of Matt Gove’s Ghostbusters ceramics, and an emergent echo upon the windows by inimitable fan artist, Katherine Botten.

Curl up in the soft area and immerse yourself in the biting social commentary of Lazzaro’s tactile scrapbooks. Expect utmost relevancy; Mr Bean, National Scissors Day, Communist Tissue Boxes, Stigmardi-gras, and much, much more.

Acknowledge Me is co-curated by Caroline Wylds (APA staff artist) and Adrian Lazzaro (APA artist).

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Still Life brings together a collection of paintings, drawings and prints from Arts Project Australia artists working from observation.

There is an intimate connection between the subject matter and the artist, the works tenderly capturing life in the studio, objects of admiration, or pursuits of great personal affection.

Featuring an interactive still-life installation which visitors and artists can engage and respond to throughout, this immersive exhibition speaks to the heart of APA studio life.

Exhibiting artists are Adrian Lazzaro, Alanna Dodd, Amani Tia, Anthony Romagnano, Cameron Gresswell, Fiona Longhurst, Ian Gold, Jillian Richards, Lewis Quinn, Monica Lazzari, Philip Truett, Samantha Ashdown and Suzanne Barnes.

Still Life is co-curated by Yoshe Gillespe (APA staff artist, printmaking specialist), Suzie Brown (APA staff artist), Amani Tia (APA artist) and Samantha Ashdown (APA artist).

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Bronwyn Hack’s gigantic inflatable hot water bottle ‘Alfred’ (2021) is going on tour.

In 2020, Bronwyn was invited by curators Claire Watson and Zoé Bastin to create an inflatable sculpture. Bronwyn came up with the idea of Alfred – so much more than a humble, functional water bottle – and imbued him with a kind of personality. Alfred then gave birth to smaller water bottles, some with attachment cords, some covered with fur and tinsel and all with beautifully stitched edgings.

Alfred and his offspring will be travelling the country as part of NETS Victoria touring exhibition Conflated, based on the concept of contemporary inflatables.

After an excellent start at the Australian National University School of Art and Design Gallery last year, Alfred went on to Deakin University Art Gallery and has since continued through to Logan Art Gallery. Alfred’s final stop will take place from 1 October – 3 December 2023 at Swan Hill Regional Gallery.

Conflated features artists Zoë Bastin, Andy Butler, David Cross, Bronwyn Hack, Amrita Hepi with Honey Long and Prue Stent, Christopher Langton, Eugenia Lim, James Nguyễn and Steven Rhall.

Arts Project Australia’s Annual Gala is a celebration of the achievement of our artists.

The annual gala acknowledges the artist’s unique contribution to contemporary art. Featuring over 200 artworks by more than 150 APA artists, the Gala is an exhibition where the buyer gets to walk away with a new artwork at the moment of purchase.

The exhibition includes drawing, painting, soft sculpture, ceramics, printmaking and photography.

With thanks to Ross Coulter you can visit us virtually and view a 3D tour of the 2022 Annual Gala.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

2 x 2 presents solo exhibitions by Kate Knight and Simon Paredes, each celebrating a devotion to colour, composition, form and design

In Simon Paredes Brillo,  the application of Prisma pencil to paper is dense and meticulously applied, the imagery stylised and controlled, underpinned with a distinct quirkiness.

In Kaleidoscope, Kate Knight creates explosions of fractured colour, each piece organically constructed and full of movement and energy.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Michael Camakaris curated Variations as part of the inaugural Blindside 2021 Artist Mentorship Initiative.

Initially an online exhibition, we then presented a live version of the show at APA’s Collingwood Yards gallery during October 2022. The mentorship program engaged an early-career artist or curator with a disability to work on a self-devised project with advice from Blindside personnel.

In Michael’s own words, “the focus of Variations touches on the relationship between the disabled artist, their lived experience and their choice of artistic expression. I chose this particular theme to advocate for disabled artists, as they are generally under-represented, and often lack a say in how they are presented. Their work is rarely placed front and centre. Often their inclusion is a token gesture toward equality”.

The exhibition features works by APA artists Mark Smith and Jordan Dymke alongside Darcey Bella Arnold (ReadingRoom) and Kieren Seymour (Neon Parc).

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Intersect will present work from three continents by neurodivergent, intellectually and learning disabled artists, alongside their non-disabled peers. The exhibition will focus on the artworks produced during ‘UK/AU Season of Culture’ Peer/Peer collaborations – digital residencies pairing international artists with and without disabilities.

Celebrating the diversity of cultures, exhibiting APA artists will include Georgia Szmerling, Samraing Chea, Bronwyn Hack, Emily Dober, Lisa Reid, Alan Constable and Anthony Romagnano. They will be joined by Holly Stevenson, Matt Robertson, Lala Nurlala, Matthew Clarke, John Powell-Jones, David Blandy, Larry Achiampong, Sandra St Hilare, Tony Allen, Sam Jevon and Yoki Mekuria. Select exhibiting artists’ work with the following supported studios: Arts Project Australia, Melbourne; ArtGusto, Geelong; and Submit to Love, London.

Intersect will highlight UK-based Billy Mann in his Curating Collections project in collaboration with Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA). Further Art et al. initiatives, including Curatorial Mentorships, will be reflected through printed material and events. These projects include APA’s Eden Menta working with European curator and researcher Stella Sideli in a Curatorial Mentorship.

This exhibition will feature new international commissions, collaborations, and artists engaged by Art et al. during 2021-22. Intersect will also present a selection of curated video works introducing 2022 programming ‘UK x Australia x Indonesia’, a year-long collaboration with Indonesian organisation Ketemu.

Art et al.’s projects for Intersect have been supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, the British Council through their International Collaboration Grants, the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Aesop Foundation. Art et al. is founded by Arts Project Australia, Jennifer Lauren Gallery, and Slominski Projects, with thanks to curator Katrina Schwarz for inspiring the launch of Art et al.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Plants are essential to life.
We respond to plants with all our senses.
We use them to symbolise our emotions, to mark significant occasions, and even as signifiers of place, strength and age.
We bring plants inside, transforming our domestic spaces into natural oases. While plants are specific to particular geographic locations, they are also universal.

A profusion of flowers, plants and trees, greenery and brilliant colour, PLANT/LIFE brings together a group of eleven contemporary artists, including Arts Project studio artists, who are inspired by the beauty and diversity of the natural world. From over-scaled sunflowers to soft-sculpture succulents, along with drawings, paintings and ceramics, this exhibition presents a celebration of the plant life that surrounds us.

Exhibiting APA artists are Anthony Romagnano, Brigid Hanrahan, Chris O’Brien, Georgia Szmerling, Lygin Ang, Philip Truett, Robert Brown and Rosie O’Brien who are joined by Emily Ferretti, Yvonne Kendall and Christopher Langton.

PLANT/LIFE features a specially commissioned immersive wall painting by Georgia Szmerling, coupled with paintings by Emily Ferretti on the windows of APA’s Collingwood Yards gallery.

PLANT/LIFE is curated by Kirsty Grant.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Taking place as part of Photo 2022, ‘Ugly/Beautiful’ is a solo exhibition of photographic work by mixed-media artist Mark Smith; it presents a space for beauty and ugliness to coalesce.

Exploring identity, difference and faith, the artwork aims to express feelings of joy, yet, the viewer’s experience is more confronting, with imagery depicting digital collages of body parts lurching outwards from a black background, prompting feelings of disconnectedness, discomfort and unease.

Working across painting, ceramics, mixed media, video and soft sculpture, Mark Smith’s primarily figurative works are concerned with how the physicality of the body relates to human nature and the human condition. He considers the body a non-negotiable starting point for existence, using the primitive vessel to explore the truly distinctive characteristics of being human.

Within this framework, Smith addresses the experiences and complexities of the individual and of humanity as a whole, as well as examines the language of subtle movement. Working from a feeling or emotion rather than a model or image, his artwork has an intrinsic quality that is imbued with a deep sense of character.

Mark Smith has worked in the Arts Project Australia studio since 2003. He held his first solo show Words Are…Jarmbi at Gallery Upstairs in 2014, as well as featuring in group shows nationally including Spring1883, Gertrude Glasshouse, The Substation and West Space. In 2014, he self-published Alive: an autobiographical reflection of his life and in 2020 he undertook an artist residency at the Australian Tapestry Workshop. Public collections include the Monash University Museum of Art and Moreland City Council. His work is also held in national and international private and corporate collections.

This exhibition has been generously supported by the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (ADFAS).

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

View the exhibition from home

Circleworks uses the formal aesthetics of the hand-drawn or handmade circle as a departure point to explore artistic processes, perspectives, experiences and stories.

The exhibition features artworks by Arts Project Australia artists Fulli Andrinopoulos and Julian Martin, alongside works by Mimili-based artist Linda Puna and Louise Bourgeois.

Each artist has produced their artworks within specific contexts–culturally, geographically and materially–yet they connect through the formal repetition of their circle-like motifs.

This visual connection allows for the chance to closely consider the particularity of each artist’s visual sensibility.

Circleworks aims to celebrate these relations while acknowledging cultural differences.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Curated by Sophia Cai, Sincerely Yours is a group exhibition across two neighbouring galleries at Collingwood Yards: Arts Project Australia and West Space.

The exhibition will bring together a wide range of contemporary artists, including Arts Project studio artists, exploring fandom theory and the different ways artists and audiences engage with objects or subjects that inspire fannish love and devotion.

Sincerely Yours brings together artists whose work speaks to the deep, earth-shattering passion for popular culture. We all have desires that keep us grounded, even when the world around us feels like it’s falling apart. Exhibiting artists include Alanna Dodd, Amy Meng, Ari Tampubolon, Carly Snoswell, Daniel Pace, Danny Lyons, Dylan Goh, Jenny Ngo, Mel Dixon, Miles Howard-Wilks, Nick Capaldo, and Raquel Caballero. Room sheets can be viewed here.

An exhibition zine is available to collect, it contains newly commissioned fan fiction texts by Natasha Hertanto, Jinghua Qian, Diego Ramirez and Sunanda Sachatrakul. The first 200 zines come with a limited edition risograph printed cover featuring work by Jenny Ngo.

Join Arts Project Australia and West Space to celebrate the closing weekend of Sincerely Yours. On Saturday 5 March 2022, join exhibition curator Sophia Cai and artists Danny Lyons and Dylan Goh for an artist talk at 2pm. Followed by writers Natasha Hertanto, Diego Ramirez and Jinghua Qian doing readings of their newly commissioned fan-fictions. Dance group AO crew will bring the K-pop moves at 3pm and the bar will be open.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground. Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.