What's On at John Curtin Gallery

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for our Reconciliation Week student talk as part of the Bridging to Next: Truth and Reclamation exhibition. Your presence, reflections, and conversations made the event truly meaningful.

Together, we continue the journey of truth-telling, learning, and reconciliation. 🖤💛❤️

Thanks to the students, Phoebe Campbell, Yasmin Gane, Di-Andra Holt, Angus Bowskill and Leza Howie, who were guided by Bardi, Jawi Aamba (Man) Ron Bradfield Jnr.

Exhibition continues until Friday June 6
📍 John Curtin Gallery
📅 26 May – 6 June 2025
🕙 Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm

@leza_howie @yasmingane @phoeberose_campbell @angusbowskill @diandra.holt @ronbjnr

@curtinbfagrads @curtinalumni @curtinuniversity
#ReconciliationWeek #BridgingToNext #TruthAndReclamation #StudentVoices #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe #curtinartcollection

🤝 A Together Story: Compassion
6 June Fri, 12-1pm

Join Chris Malcolm, Curator of Once Known, and Dr Neeti Sethi, Gallery Education Coordinator, JCG as they discuss Carrolup teachers Noel and Lily White and their role in championing the children, the power of art, reconciliation, and how people can play active roles in today’s world.

Facilitated by Ron Bradfield Jnr, a Bardi, Jawi Aamba (Man) and Community Cultural Advisor for John Curtin Gallery

Light refreshments provided.

🤝 A Together Story Event Series are truth-telling discussions with Stolen Generations community members, Carrolup survivors, and allies who have become part of these living stories.

Future Events
13 June (Fri), 12-1pm: A Beginning with Aunty Dot Bagshaw and Chris Malcolm
20 June (Fri), 12-1pm: Advocacy with Michelle Broun and Lisa Liebetrau
26 June (Fri), 12-1pm: Hope with Brett Nannup and Patti Belletty
7 July (Mon), 12-1pm: Ripples with Ezzard Flowers and Phoebe Milne

The Next Generation – Panel Discussion 11 July (Fri), 12-1pm: Strength, Vision & Legacy with Dr Jessyca Hutchens, Brett Nannup, Candice Nannup and Tyrown Waigana

✨Make these stories a part of your story.
To register and for more info: www.curtin.edu.au/jcg/exhibitions/carrolup-once-known/ or LINK in BIO

Exhibition Hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 11am–4pm
Old Perth Boys` School, Curtin 139 St Georges Tce, Perth

Proudly supported by: @bfplperth @lotterywest @inside_bhp @colgateuniversity and #navigators

📸

`Once Known`: A Truth-Telling Exhibition
From the Stolen Children of Carrolup

Their stories from Country, from a time when they were forcibly taken from their families and held at the Carrolup Native Settlement.

🤝 A Together Story Event Series Join us for truth-telling discussions with Stolen Generations community members, Carrolup survivors, and allies who have become part of these living stories.

30 May (Fri), 12-1pm: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Rachel and Jessica Fortune and Patricia Ryder
6 June (Fri), 12-1pm: Compassion with Chris Malcolm and Dr Neeti Sethi
13 June (Fri), 12-1pm: A Beginning with Aunty Dot Bagshaw and Chris Malcolm
20 June (Fri), 12-1pm: Advocacy with Michelle Broun and Lisa Liebetrau
26 June (Fri), 12-1pm: Hope with Brett Nannup and Patti Belletty
7 July (Mon), 12-1pm: Ripples with Ezzard Flowers and Phoebe Milne

The Next Generation – Panel Discussion 11 July (Fri), 12-1pm: Strength, Vision & Legacy with Dr Jessyca Hutchens, Brett Nannup, Candice Nannup and Tyrown Waigana

Facilitated by Ron Bradfield Jnr.

Make these stories a part of your story.
FREE EVENT - Places are limited please register, for more info: www.curtin.edu.au/jcg/exhibitions/carrolup-once-known/ or LINK in BIO

Exhibition Hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 11am–4pm
Location: Curtin 139 St Georges Tce, Perth

Proudly supported by: @bfplperth @lotterywest @inside_bhp @colgateuniversity and #navigators

📸 Susanna Castleden and Gary Ryder, photo by Marnie Richardson.
Installation view `Once Known`.

The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork was generously donated for educational and research purposes by Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA.

#NRW2025 #Reconciliation #BridgingNowtoNext #OnceKnown #NAIDOC #OldPerthBoysSchool #exhibition #StolenGeneration #Carrolup #CarrolupCentreForTruthTelling #CarrolupCentre #CarrolupArt #FirstNations #AboriginalArt #Noongar #Nyungar #Indigenous #Aboriginal #Heritage #Identity #Belonging #Colonisation #CurtinUniversity #WesternAustralia #JohnCurtinGallery #ColgateUniversity #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe

⭐️ Bridging to Next: Truth and Reclamation Exhibition

Drawing upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks within the Curtin University Art Collection, five third-year Curtin University Fine Art students have been invited to showcase artists that reflect this year’s Reconciliation theme, Bridging Now to Next.

Featuring ‘Larngerner (The Colour of Country)’ by Trawlwoolway artist and Curtin Alumni Julie Gough - this two-channel video work transforms archival fragments and colonial imagery into powerful indictments of historical erasure and control. Gough challenges the way First Nations people were historically dehumanised and classified, offering a powerful counter-narrative grounded in cultural identity and connection to Country.

📍 John Curtin Gallery
📅 26 May – 6 June 2025
🕙 Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm
👉 Lunchtime Student Talk: Thurs 29 May, 12–1pm

@leza_howie @yasmingane @phoeberose_campbell @angusbowskill @diandra.holt @ronbjnr

@curtinbfagrads @curtinalumni @curtinuniversity #NRWK2025 #artcollection #ReconciliationWeek #CurtinArt #JulieGough #IndigenousArt #TruthTelling #bridgingnowtonext

📸 Julie Gough, Larngerner (The Colour of Country), 2018, video stills. Curtin University Art Collection. Purchased with funds donated through Curtin Foundation, 50fifty Acquisition Initiative, 2019

Bridging to Next: Truth and Reclamation Exhibition
26 May - 6 June 2025

Drawing upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks within the Curtin University Art Collection, five third-year Curtin University Fine Art students have been invited to showcase artists that reflect this year’s Reconciliation theme, Bridging Now to Next.

This year’s students, Phoebe Campbell, Yasmin Gane, Di-Andra Holt, Angus Bowskill and Leza Howie, will be mentored by gallery staff member, Bardi, Jawi Aamba (Man) Ron Bradfield Jnr, to assist them in their consideration and investigation of artworks available to them within the collection.

For this inaugural Student Reconciliation Exhibition, Bridging to Next: Truth and Reclamation, the non-Aboriginal students have been encouraged to consider the tenacity, creativity, and humanity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Western Australia and reflect this in their selected artworks.

Lunchtime talk on Thurs 29 May - For more info & to register, see LINK in BIO or visit curtin.edu.au/jcg

@curtinbfagrads @curtinalumni @curtinuniversity #NRWK2025 #artcollection
Image: Sharyn Egan, Basket (vessel), 2021, Kwel (she-oak) needles, thread and emu feather, 13.5 x 25 x 23 cm.

A huge shoutout and congratulations to the artists recently selected in some of Australia’s big art prizes!! 🙌 Curtin Alumni, previous and upcoming exhibiting artists – we are thrilled for your success and wish you all the very best.

Included in the Ramsay Art Prize finalists are Emma Buswell with her amazing work ‘The Pool’, which was exhibited here in 2024. We are excited to welcome her back later in the year for the ‘Everyday Myths and Legends’ exhibition featuring a newly commissioned work.

Also selected is James Tylor whose major solo exhibition is up next at the JCG, alongside Nan Goldin (opening night July 3 – subscribe for further details via our website).
Congratulations as well go to Jack Ball and David Attwood 👏

And way to go to Perth festival 2024 JCG exhibitor Robert Fielding for being chosen for not only the Archibald, but also the Wynn and Sulman Prizes! ❤️

Shoutouts also go to Abdul Abdullah for being an Archibald finalist and winner of its Packing Room Prize 🏆 and to Joan Ross for her selection as a finalist.

Tessa MacKay’s selection in the Wynn Prize and Helen Smith’s inclusion in the Sulman Prize.

Well done to all, we champion you!!

@embuzza1 @jack__ball_ @sweet.pea.arts #jamestylor @davidattwood @agsaadelaide #ramsayartprize @robertfielding_ @mimili_maku_arts
@abdul_abdullah @wecallthisatree @archibaldprize @artgalleryofnsw
@tessamackayart #wynneprize2025 @helensmi1h

@curtinuniversity @curtinalumni @curtinbfagrads

LAST DAY Thurs 17 April ✨

Our Perth Festival exhibitions for 2025 will soon come to an end.
It has been a joy and a priviledge to feature the amazing work of Alice Guiness `Burndud Ground` & Mai Nguyễn-Long `Doba Nation`

🎁 Looking for a gift? Check out our Gallery Shop while you are here!

Burndud Ground is a @perthfest and @juluwarluartgroup commission and is part of the Boorloo Contemporary Program in partnership with @wesfarmersarts

‘Doba Nation’ is presented with @perthfest
@mainguyenlong is represented by @michaelreidsydney

✨ Our latest Carrolup exhibition, ‘Once Known’ opened to the public last week at the Old Perth Boys’ School at 139 St Georges Terrace as part of the Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival.

Curated by former Director Chris Malcolm in consultation with the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling Reference Group, ‘Once Known’ shares meticulous reproductions from the delicate originals, providing greater accessibility to the artworks in the lead up to the opening of the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling within the John Curtin Gallery at Curtin University, Bentley campus where the original artworks will be on year-round display from 2026. While hundreds of children were detained at Carrolup, only 17 artists have been attributed to works in the Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork. The ‘Once Known’ exhibition is a reminder that each child had a name, a family, and a story.

Open during the Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival: 4 – 17 Apr 2025, weekdays 11am – 3pm then reopening to the public Monday 28 Apr. Opening Hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 11am – 4pm (closed Wednesdays and Weekends).

For more information and to see our upcoming events for ‘Once Known’, visit www.curtin.edu.au/jcg/exhibitions/carrolup-once-known/ or LINK in BIO

Photography by Marnie Richardson

@curtinuniversity #Carrolup #CarrolupCentreforTruthtelling #OnceKnown #OldPerthBoysSchool #JohnCurtinGallery #CurtinUniversity #BoorlooHeritageFestival

Mai Nguyễn-Long
Doba Nation

The clusters of ceramic forms that comprise Doba Nation are humorously defiant. Eyes bulge, mouths expel tongues and vomit, tiny Poo Balls are scattered throughout. Positioned on travel crates, repurposed as plinths, there is a sense of things being impermanent, unstable or on the move. This is a ramshackle chorus of rejected selves, claiming space and community.

Mai Nguyễn-Long’s cylindrical forms are inspired by post-Vietnam War bomb shell casings that some residents of rural Vietnam have repurposed for practical use. Other disturbing connections to war have also found their way into her work – the striking orange of her Vomit Girl figures alludes to the notorious use of the defoliant ‘Agent Orange’ by US forces. These characteristic figures seem to be evolving into increasingly complex, rhythmic forms with holes, prongs and looping appendages jostling over the surface. Other slip painted forms appear to be in the process of transformation or disintegration. Tubular shapes reach out, holes searching like blind mouths or nostrils. At times complete faces are represented; their diversely stumpy, mutating shapes a reminder of Vomit Girl’s genesis. There is a clear evolution here that suggests an eventual reunification of lost parts. This transformative aspect underpins a provocative complexity to Mai Nguyễn-Long’s work that is deeply compelling.

Lia McKnight, Curator

Only a few weeks left!
Exhibition ends 17 Apr.
For more information, visit curtin.edu.au/jcg or LINK in BIO

‘Doba Nation’ is presented with @perthfest
@mainguyenlong is represented by @michaelreidsydney

📸 Portrait by Ezra Alcantra. Installation views by John Curtin Gallery.
Images 3 & 6: Doba Nation (details), 2023. Photos by Daniel Soma, courtesy of the artist and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin.