Girt by Sea by Tony Hewitt and Denis Glennon

Red mud is exposed by the tides in King Sound, near Derby, captured soon after take-off in the Kimberley, during the early morning light. Image by Tony Hewitt and Denis Glennon.
Red mud is exposed by the tides in King Sound, near Derby, captured soon after take-off in the Kimberley, during the early morning light. Image by Tony Hewitt and Denis Glennon.

Tony Hewitt and Denis Glennon have spent 31 days following the nation’s coastlines by air. This unique showcase comprises a stunning collection of 100 large-format aerial images of Australia’s coastline. “Girt by Sea started as an ambitious dream and now it’s a lived experience," Hewitt says. “More than that, the collection means that we can now hold the understanding of those three words in our hands.”

“The collection expresses what Girt by Sea means to us – it’s the emotional response to what we saw a point in time captured in beautiful, large-format images,” says Denis Glennon. “It’s the result of our daily decision to focus on what we actually find, not on what we expect to find – that’s the spirit of exploration!”

Image by Tony Hewitt and Denis Glennon.
Receding tides leave behind familiar shapes in the mud near the most southern point of the
Gulf of Carpentaria in Qld. Photography by Tony Hewitt & Denis Glennon.

The 34,213km journey mirrors the exploration of the intrepid first explorers and their record of largely inhospitable regions. Because like those 19th century wanderers, Hewitt and Glennon did not set out with a neatly packed agenda – rather, they worked reactively, guided by what they discovered.

“I hope people share the same emotional response of ‘Wow – look at that!’ that we did when we encountered these places,” says Tony Hewitt. “It doesn’t really matter where it is. What is so striking is the texture, colour, and shape of our coastline. We have in our minds a hard line dividing land from sea, but it’s actually a much more fluid transition.”

The latest in a series of major collaborations for Canon Australia, Canon Australia’s Director of Consumer Imaging, Jason McLean says that they're extremely proud of what they have been able to achieve together with some of the most creative minds in Australia.

 

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February

Canberra: Until 6 Sept 2026. Trent Parke’s photographic series The Christmas tree bucket 2006–09 is a tender and darkly humorous portrayal of his extended family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

March

Sydney: Until 7 Feb 2027. From his archive of more than 200,000 images, Close Up celebrates the historic moments and pivotal people he famously captured.

Melbourne: 5 March – 7 August 2026. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, artist and social documentary photographer Viva Gibb (1945-2017) documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived.

May

Sydney: Until 16 August 2026. PIX, Australia’s first pictorial news weekly, is brought to life in this exhibition, showcasing its archived images and stories for the very first time.

Melbourne: Until March 2027. Rehearsing the City presents archival photographs from Victoria’s government collections, alongside new work by contemporary street photographers.

Coffs Harbour: 28 May – 29 June 2026. West Of Somewhere East is a photographic series tracing a cinematic journey through the interior of New South Wales, shaped by long drives, fleeting encounters, and the reflective rhythm of return.

June

Sydney: June 6 – 19 July 2026. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 is returning to the State Library of New South Wales from 6 June to 19 July, offering Sydney audiences an uncompromising view of of the unending challenges that humans, and our planet face.

Melbourne: 6 June – 20 August 2026. Brook Andrew is an artist whose conceptual practice shifts across photography, performance, moving image, installation, public space and research, often through deep collaboration with artists, communities and friends.

Melbourne: 6 June – 28 June 2-26. We Built a House Out of Water is a deeply personal body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process.

Melbourne: 26 June – 2 August. Through analogue photographic processes, Dylan Negri aims to immortalised fragments of life that would otherwise disintegrate.