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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July

Sydney: Until 31 Dec 2025. 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.

November

Canberra: Until 1 March 2026. Women photographers 1853–2018 highlights the transformative impact of women artists on the history of photography.

Sydney: Until 11 April. Unfinished Business brings together the voices of 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disabilities from remote, regional, and urban communities across Australia.

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.

Sydney: 7–30 November. The festival transforms Sydney into a photography haven with major exhibitions at Bondi Pavilion Gallery and outdoor displays throughout Paddington Reservoir Gardens and along Bondi Beach.

Sydney: Until 30 Nov 2025. Infranatura reveals the hidden beauty of Australia’s flora, exposing both its resilience and vulnerability, and exploring how light and perception shape our connection to nature today.

Melbourne: 28 Nov 2025 – 26 May 2026. The exhibition celebrates the wide-ranging photographic practices of more than eighty women artists working between 1900 and 1975.

December

Sydney: 4 Dec – 19 Dec 2025. The project brings together around 70 images over 50 metres of wall space, profiling a wide spectrum of practical action on climate