Further Information
Since the foundation in 1990, the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery has presented an innovated program of exhibitions, featuring artwork from the University extensive Art Collection, loaned works as well as new contemporary commissioned works.
The Gallery aims to continually expand its digital archive of past exhibitions.
Batavia: Giving Voice to the Voiceless
7 October - 16 December 2017
Please be advised this exhibition contains adult content. Not recommended for those under the age of 18.
Batavia: Giving voice to the voiceless follows new discoveries by researchers from the University of Western Australia and the Western Australian Museum into the 1629 wreck of the Dutch ship Batavia and the mutiny, murder and incredible feats of survival it sparked, as reinterpreted by Paul Uhlmann and Robert Cleworth.
Image: Paul Uhlmann, Batavia Skull (camera obscura), 2015. Courtesy of the artist.
Visit Batavia: Giving Voice to the Voiceless exhibition website
Being Tiwi
7 October - 16 December 2017
Being Tiwi features a range of artworks from print media to painting, and reveals how the expressive and experimental work being produced on the Tiwi Islands continues to realise in different forms the Tiwi traditions of life and culture. The exhibition includes the first prints produced at Tiwi Design, a selection of works on paper, newly acquired for the MCA Collection along with works commissioned especially for the exhibition.
Exhibition organised and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
This exhibition is supported by the Visions regional touring program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to cultural material for all Australians
Image:Nina Puruntatameri, Kulama Design, 2010, Japanese-style woodcut, Edition 15/20, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2015, image courtesy the artist and Munupi Arts and Crafts Association, © Nina Puruntatameri/Licensed by Viscopy 2017
Milingimbi: A Living Culture
29 July - 16 December 2017
The Berndt Museum along with the Milingimbi Aboriginal Art and Cultural Centre and the Janet Holmes a Court Collection present a selection of works from Milingimbi Island in north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
The exhibition is a response to a Makarraṯa held on the island in late 2016, which linked a wide range of collections from around the world with the community.
The barks and Larrakitj represent a small sample of works that carry strong links to people past and present, and help to celebrate the value of living culture today.
Image: Artist Unknown, Yolŋu, Rarrtji, Bush foods, natural pigments on bark. RM & CH Berndt Collection, Berndt Museum [Acc.No.1318]
Country and Colony
22 July - 16 December 2017
Country and Colony presents a range of perspectives on the Australian experience. Drawing from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, the exhibition weaves together stories of land, body and industry to explore histories and the ongoing impact of colonisation.
Exhibitions from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art are supported by SHEILA A foundation for women in visual art.
Image: Thea Costantino, Populate or Perish, 2014, Giclee print, edition 1/3. 84 x 54 cm, CCWA 957, (C) Courtesy of the artist.
Scratching the Surface: A selection of works from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection
22 July - 23 September 2017
Scratching the Surface: A selection of works from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection gives audiences the chance to experience some of the best-loved works from a very personal collection of Australian art. The exhibition will also mark the release of Muse: A journey through an art collection by Janet Holmes à Court about her passion for art.
Image: Rachel Coad, Janet Holmes à Court (detail), 2015, oil and pencil on linen, 200 x 285 cm. Janet Holmes à Court Collection.
Down to Earth
23 May - 9 August 2017 at the City of Perth Library
This exhibition explores depictions of the landscape and earth, both visually and in terms of the processes through which the works were made.
Down to Earth showcases ceramics from the University of Western Australia (UWA) Art Collection and the Cruthers Collection of Women?s Art at UWA, and is a UWA Away Project, in partnership with the City of Perth Library.
Image: Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), untitled, c.mid 14th Century, black iron glazed stoneware, 17.5 x 17cm, The University of Western Australia Art Collection, Gift of Dr Albert Gild, 1974
- Find out more about Down to Earth at City of Perth Library
- Download the Media Release and Image Suite (PDF)
HERE&NOW17: New Photography
29 April - 8 July 2017
HERE&NOW17: New Photography centres on contemporary Western Australian artists working with, or at the margins of, photography.
The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery’s annual HERE&NOW exhibition gives an emerging curator a chance to showcase the outstanding work of contemporary artists practising in Western Australia. Curated by Chelsea Hopper, HERE&NOW 17: New Photography aims to explore how Western Australians see themselves, how artists use photography to interrogate a place’s self-representation, and attempts to disrupt the dominance of east coast imagery in the Australian cultural imagination.
The exhibition aims to open up an “expanded field” of photography, and therefore question the nature of photography and image making in contemporary culture. This raises questions related to image culture;the internet and so-called ‘post-internet’ condition of art production; the nature of connectivity, image circulation, information networks and connection models within photo-based culture.
HERE&NOW17: New Photography includes ambitious new work from six WA-based artists: Jacqueline Ball, Scott Burton, Lucy Griggs, Dan McCabe, Lydia Trethewey and Georgia Kaw.
Image: Scott Burton, Untitled, 2016.
Kevin Ballantine: Photographs 1986-2001
29 April - 8 July 2017
Explore Perth of the mid-1980s through to the dawn of the new millennium with photographs from Western Australian artist Kevin Ballantine.
Kevin Ballantine purchased his first camera in London in 1975, documenting the streets around his home in Fulham. Influenced by the great urban photographers of post-war Paris and New York, and by the work of contemporary street photographers of the 1970s, Ballantine resolved to do the same when he returned to his hometown of Perth in 1976.
The result was an extraordinary body of work, documenting the changing face of the city and conveying with acuity and sensitivity something of what it is to be in this place, both banal and spectacularly beautiful.
Kevin Ballantine: Photographs 1986-2001 presents a survey of 15 years of Ballantine’s practice, capturing the urban landscapes of Perth and Fremantle, an outback road trip down the Great Eastern Highway, and exuberant scenes from Cottesloe beach. It includes an important series from 1986-87 featuring the streets of Fremantle during the America’s Cup.
Image: Kevin Ballantine, Cup City, 1986-87, digital print on archival paper © Kevin Ballantine
- Find out more about Kevin Ballantine: Photographs 1986 - 2001
- Download the Media Release and Image Suite (PDF)
The Likeness
11 February - 8 July 2017
Portraits and self-portraits from the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art, the nation's only public collection of art by Australian women.
Over the fifty years of collecting that form the basis of the collection, the Cruthers family developed a particular interest in self portraiture and portraiture. Attracted to the way these genres expressed aspects of an artist's biography and identity, the family amassed close to 100 artworks that depict likenesses across a range of styles and disciplines.Featuring familiar collection favourites and never-before seen gems and rotating collection artworks across the exhibition's run, The Likeness presents a spectrum of attitudes towards portraiture from over 100 years of Australian artistic practice.
Download the Education Kit for The Likeness exhibition.
Image: A.M.E. Bale, Self Portrait, c. 1906, oil on board, 48 x 34.8 cm, CCWA 752. Cruthers Collection of Women's Art. The University of Western Australia
Works of Art from Warburton
11 February - 1 July 2017
Experience work by Aboriginal artists from the remote desert community of Warburton.
Warburton is a remote Aboriginal community just south of the Gibson Desert, in the centre of Ngaanyatjarra lands. It is a community with a serious reputation for producing outstanding works of art over several decades.
The Berndt Museum and Warburton Arts Project bring to Perth a selection of works from the community's own collection. Exhibited for the first time in many years, they highlight the importance of the visual arts and challenging our ability to see and become aware of culture through art, this exhibition is filled with depth beyond the visual experience.
Image: Jacky Giles, Ngaanyatjarra, Tingarri, 2000, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Warburton Arts Project (WAC048 (M))
Helen Britton: Interstices
11 February - 15 April 2017
A 25-year survey of the work of renowned jeweller Helen Britton, including new works that draw inspiration from Western Australia's coastline. Now residing in Munich, Britton has developed an international reputation for her innovative practice as a contemporary artist working in metal and found materials.
A Perth International Arts Festival event supported by Visual Arts Program Partner Wesfarmers Arts.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Image: Concept - Helen Britton. Styling - Corrina Brix. Photo - Dirk Eisel. Courtesy of the artist.
Back to Past Exhibitions archive.
University information
CRICOS Code: 00126G
