What's On at John Curtin Gallery

That`s a wrap! 👏

A call and response across the ocean, part of Perth Festival 2026, has officially come to an end!

We hope you enjoyed the rhythms, stories and scents of the Indian Ocean, and experienced the reunion of friendships and kin ties severed through transglobal acts of colonisation.

Through immersive installations, film, sound and historical works, A call and response across the ocean taught us of connections across continents and to reflect on the enduring legacies of cultural exchange and resilience.

🌊 Histories do not stay silent.

A huge thank you to everyone involved! 💛

@perthfest @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @berndt.museum @curtinbfagrads @emora_suara_sound @universityartmuseumsaustralia @before1770@susanflavellart @bumpymusic_ @worldofashe @jackychengart

📸 - @marnie__richardson, @sharonb.art, @__melmacaulay__ and Gaylene Galardi.

Drop-in to Chronically Crafty, Wednesday May 6! ✨
 
Join us in the Kattidj Nagãr (Peacful Quiet Reflection) space for a end of season Chronically Crafty session.
 
This is a relaxed, drop-in craft session for people with disability and neurodivergent communities, this creative session is always open to anyone who would like to create in a quiet, welcoming environment. 🧶
 
Bring whatever you’re working on (knitting, drawing, mending, journaling, beading — anything goes) and create at your own pace. No pressure. No expectations. Just time and space.
 
📍John Curtin Gallery - Wednesday 6 May - 12pm - 2pm
 
Facilitated by disabled artist, academic and advocate @jordanalice___
 
💛 Come when you can
💛 Leave when you need
💛 Everyone welcome
 
🔗 Register via link in bio! 
 
Chronically Crafty will take place on the first Wednesday during semester.

@curtinlifeaustralia @curtinbfagrads
 
#ChronicallyCrafty #AccessibleArts #PerthCreatives #communitycare

Exclusive screening of Before 1770! 🎬

Celebrate the end of our Perth Festival exhibition, A call and response across the ocean, and join us for a screening of this feature documentary!

Through vivid storytelling and immersive re-enactments, Before 1770 delves into themes of transglobal colonisation and cultural memory, offering a powerful perspective on the historical friendships and kin ties between northern Australia and Makassar.

Event Details:
🗓️ Sunday 3 May 2026
⏰ 1:30pm – 4pm
Free event, open to the public

For more information, and to register, head to the link in bio! 💛

@perthfest @thaniapetersen @before1770 @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @curtinbfagrads @perthartlist @universityartmuseumsaustralia

#before1770 #filmscreening #university

Join us for another Lunchtime Talk! ✨

This special panel discussion will explore how heritage is practiced, interrupted and regained from various views across the Indian Ocean.

Join Wajarri Nyarlu/Menang heritage expert Patricia Ryder, Geographer and heritage scholar Tod Jones and Media scholar Thor Kerr as they contest dominant narratives about Australia’s geographical and cultural isolation through exploring connections, disconnections and reconnections across the Indian Ocean.

Details: 
🗓️  Wednesday 29 April. 
📍 John Curtin Gallery 
⏰ 1.30pm - 2.30pm
Free event, open to the public. 
🔗 Register via link in bio!

The JCG Lunchtime Talks is a mid-week series that invites speakers from diverse disciplines to share their research, practices, and perspectives in response to the gallery’s exhibition programming. These informal sessions offer a welcoming, collegial space to explore ideas, spark dialogue, and engage with the themes and questions shaping contemporary visual culture and artistic practice.

📸 - @marnie__richardson

@curtinbfagrads @curtinalumni @perthartlist @perthfest @abdi.karya @thaniapetersen

Two weeks left! 🫨

The final weeks have arrived to experience the rhythms, stories and scents of the Indian Ocean, and witness the reunion of friendships and kin ties severed through transglobal acts of colonisation.

A call and response across the ocean will leave John Curtin Gallery on Sunday 3 May!

Through immersive installations, film, sound and historical works, A call and response across the ocean invites visitors to trace connections across continents and reflect on the enduring legacies of cultural exchange and resilience.

🌊 Histories do not stay silent.

📍 John Curtin Gallery. Free, open to the public

🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio!

@perthfest @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @berndt.museum @curtinbfagrads @skinnyfish_music

#johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #artgallery

What wellbeing looks like on Country, through the lens of Bardi Jawi children! 📸
 
Currently nestled in our Access Gallery the Our World in Photos exhibition is hand curated by Bardi Jawi children aged 8-15 from the very remote West Australian community of Ardyaloon.
 
These photographic stories explore what well-being means to them, through their own voices and vision, shaped by kinship, culture, Country and daily life.
 
We are not observing their creativity but encountering their perspectives about what matters. When we are no longer speaking for them but with them, new pathways for dialogue are made possible. 💛
 
Exhibition details:
 
🗓 4 March – 3 May
📍 John Curtin Gallery, Access Gallery.
Free entry
 
Proudly supported by - @curtinuniversity , @telethon7 and One Arm Point RCS
 
Since 2023, Curtin University’s School of Population Health and the Ardyaloon community have co-developed a strengths-based photovoice model to explore and share children’s perspectives on well-being. Underpinned by research and participatory processes, forty-five on-Country workshops and 17 dialogue events have reached 133 children. Producing over 200 photographic stories, children’s insights have informed new learning resources based on their priorities. Strategic exhibits include Government House Perth (2024), Rural Health West, Aboriginal Health Conference (2025), and an international debut at St Francis Xavier gallery, Nova Scotia Canada (2026).
 
John Curtin Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which this work was created – the Bardi Jawi Peoples. We give respect to the Elders, past, present and emerging, and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We honour their connection with land, waters and community.
 
🔗 For further information visit the link in our bio!

Encounter memory, connection, and the tides of Country.
 
Bumpy’s (@bumpymusic_ )Maambakoort (2025) celebrates the acclaimed soul artist’s homecoming to ancestral saltwaters, and honours her late Nan, Rose Whitehurst, who compiled the first Noongar dictionary. Its rolling structure mirrors the ocean’s tides, inviting reflection on memory, belonging, and connection to Country. ✨
 
Laurel Nannup’s First Contact (2016) draws on Noongar memory and history, evoking ancestral spirits and storytelling to honour Noongar life and the Stolen Generation. In Noongar Nyitting (Dreaming), the spirit transforms into a bird after death, and the white sails of the ships were understood as the wings of ancestral spirits returning from the sea.
 
Susan Flavell’s Landscape with Whirlpools (tsunami) (2013–2023) transforms a single textile into a turbulent seascape of found objects, fabrics, porcelain, and ink, exploring the fantastic, the monstrous, and the mythical, reflecting grief, dreams, and the shadow self. 🌊 @susanflavellart
 
📍 Visit John Curtin Gallery’s Atrium as part of A call and response across the ocean to learn even more about each artwork.
 
A call and response across the ocean is on show until May 3! @perthfest
 
🔗 More info via link in bio.

📸- @marnie__richardson

@curtinalumni @perthartlist @curtinbfagrads

We are excited to be taking part in this year’s Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival!

Explore 139 St Georges Terrace throughout April to take part in truth talks, exhibition tours, workshops and drop-in sessions!

🗓️ 1 April to 30 April 2026.
📍 139 St Georges Terrace (Old Perth Boys’ School), Perth.

✨ Witness truth telling firsthand and enter a space where shared history can be confronted honestly at our Once Known Truth Talks series.

✨ Register for a free guided tour of Once Known at Perth Old Boys’ School every Tuesday and Friday throughout April (excludes public holidays).

✨ Children and children-at-heart are invited to take part in our free Sensory Play Drop-In Sessions and Badge Making Workshop, inspired by beautiful Noongar Country.

RSVP | Free events, registration required.
🔗For specific event and activity times see link in Bio!

Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival is supported by @cityofperth 🙌

Once Known is proudly supported by: @bfplperth @lotterywest @inside_bhp @colgateuniversity and #navigators

Step into a space where land, sea, and memory intertwine.
 
Kelsey Ashe’s Land of a Thousand Myths invites you into a layered exploration of cultural hybridity, ancestral memory, and myth-making. A journey across nine wooden canvases, the wax-etched textures tell the story of the erosive power of sea and sun, while reimagining Celtic convict and migratory histories through a contemporary lens. 🌊
 
Brian Robinson’s and on the fifth day the waters swarmed with sea creatures, weaves Zenadth Kes maritime knowledge, ancestral symbols, and playful visual allegories into an awe-inducing wall-based sculpture. Robinson examines the moral and psychological legacies of colonialism and the evolving identity of Zenadth Kes peoples. ✨
 
📍 Visit John Curtin Gallery’s Atrium as part of A call and response across the ocean and immerse yourself in this dialogue of land, sea, and memory.
 
A call and response across the ocean is on show until May 3! 
 
🔗More info via link in bio

📸 - Image by Sharon Baker
 
@cbfagrads @curtinalumni @perthfest @perthartlist