Art around the world
Written By Divya Venkataraman
The city galleries scoop up more than their fair share of attention. This season, we’re introducing you to the regional institutions around the country worth paying a visit to, from Burnie to Bendigo and beyond.
Illaroo, New South Wales
bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country.
2 November 2024 — 9 February 2025. Bundanon, Illaroo
Bundanon cuts a striking presence on the hills of regional New South Wales. Until February, ‘bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country’ is on show, an exhibition made up of works across disciplines from drawing to an immersive installation representing home. Artists featured include Gweagal/Wandiwandian storyteller and artist Aunty Julie Freeman, Walbunja/Ngarigo artist Aunty Cheryl Davison, and Wiradyuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones.
Orange, New South Wales
Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the Collection and Conversations with Clarice Beckett.
7 December 2024 – 23 March 2025. Orange Regional Gallery, Orange
Clarice Beckett is now known as one of Australia’s most singular painters, but her contribution to the art world was largely washed away after her death in 1935. Now, her work is going on tour. Pay a visit to her emotive, tonal paintings which depict quiet sceneries — pre-war Melbourne, or low, suffused light at dawn on the beach — when they make a stop at Orange Regional Gallery. Here, Beckett’s work is shown alongside the work of eight local artists from the Central West who respond to elements of her work, her techniques and her life.
Burnie, Tasmania
Burnie Print Prize Exhibition 2025.
14 March – 17 May 2025. Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie
Fancy a print? This exhibition in Tasmania’s north-west celebrates the best in printmaking in the country, inviting submissions in techniques such as relief printing, intaglio printing, planographic printing, and stencil printing. David Walsh's MONA may be the art draw in this part of the country, but you’d do well to make a stop by Burnie as well: the old ways may take longer, but there’s a beauty that can’t be replicated.
Bendigo, Victoria
Frida Kahlo: In her own image.
15 March — 13 July 2025. Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
How could Frida Kahlo have known the extent of her notoriety in modern pop culture? Artefacts from the Mexican painter’s life — whose self-portraits gave a window into an intricate inner world — are usually on show at Casa Azul, the home in Mexico City she shared with her partner Diego Rivera, but for a short time, they will be on show at Bendigo Art Gallery in Victoria. Explore how her vibrant makeup and clothing contributed to the woman she fashioned for public consumption, and how her early life — marked by a bout of polio and a near-fatal accident — would go on to impact the persona and artist she became.
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Two Girls From Amoonguna.
November 2024 – February 2025. Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
As one of the most remote galleries in the country, Araluen Arts Centre has built up a distinct reputation for itself. Two Girls From Amoonguna is the summer’s must-see, featuring new work by Arrernte and Southern Luritja artist Sally M Nangala Mulda and Western Arrarnta artist Marlene Rubuntja. The exhibition playfully reflects on their friendship and daily lives in Central Australia, using a variety of mediums, from video, to soft sculptures, paintings, and, at its heart, an animated feature projected onto the walls of the gallery.
