“Country” is a term embodied by First Peoples in Australia to describe the lands, waterways, seas and cosmos to which they are connected. It represents Ancestral ties to a place, and the living cultural presence of that place, and references the complex relationship land has to language, family and identity. Being “on Country” is more than just being situated somewhere, it is about being shaped by that place, connected to it, and having a responsibility to care for it.

Placing First Peoples’ practice and relationality at the core of this exhibition, On Country: Photography from Australia brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists who bear witness to both the visible and invisible aspects of being on Country. Through their work, the exhibition explores old and new relationships between Country and colonialism, community, and identity in Australia today.

Australia has a complex history that is underpinned by over 60,000 years of continuous and unceded First Peoples connection—comprising over 250 different language groups or “countries”. There has since been over two centuries of colonization, whereby settler and diaspora communities have made the continent their home. The nation is a shared space of multifaceted histories and stories, and although colonialism has attempted to suppress First Nations People, their culture has continued and is strong and living today.

In contrast to its historic use as an early tool for ethnographic documentation in Australia, the artists in this exhibition embrace photography as a medium for truth telling, self-determination and collaboration, both acknowledging the past and suggesting possible futures. On Country: Photography from Australia presents artists who connect to Country in dynamic ways and are shifting the power dynamics inherent in photography, redefining photographic practice on this southern land.

Tony Albert (Kuku Yalanji; 1981) and David Charles Collins (1988), Ying Ang (1980), Atong Atem (1994), Sonja Carmichael (Ngugi / Quandamooka ; 1958) and Elisa Jane Carmichael (Ngugi / Quandamooka; 1987), Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta / Wamba Wamba / Mutti Mutti / Boonwurrung; 1961), Michael Cook (Bidjara; 1968), Brenda L Croft (Gurindji / Malngin / Mudburra; 1964), J Davies (1994), Liss Fenwick (1989), Adam Ferguson (1978), Robert Fielding (Yankunytjatjara / Western Arrernte peoples; 1969), The Huxleys – Garrett Huxley (Gumbaynggirr / Yorta Yorta, 1973) and Will Huxley (1982), Ricky Maynard (Pakana; 1953), Lisa Sorgini (1980), Tace Stevens (Noongar / Spinifex; 1992), wani toaishara (1990) and James Tylor (Kaurna; 1986).