Dombrovskis: journeys into the wild by Peter Dombrovskis

Dombrovskis: journeys into the wild (March 9-May 12) is a survey of one of the world's foremost wilderness photographers, Tasmania's Peter Dombrovskis (1945–96). He was the first Australian to be inducted (posthumously) into the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2003.

© Peter Dombrovskis.
Cushion plants, Mount Anne, southwest Tasmania 1984, Reproduction courtesy of the National Library of Australia copy
© Peter Dombrovskis. Cushion plants, Mount Anne, southwest Tasmania 1984.
Reproduction courtesy of the National Library of Australia copy

His powerful, reflective and deeply personal images of the unique Tasmanian wilderness had a lasting impact. His images changed the way Australians think about their environment by making remote nature accessible through images. Through their use in environmental campaigns, Dombrovskis’s images have become shorthand for environmental concerns in Australia. Particularly memorable was the image ‘Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend’ that Bob Brown (later to become Leader of the Greens Party) used in the ‘No Dams’ campaign to save the Franklin River. Seldom in the history of photography has there been as clear an example of visual culture bearing such political sway.

Presenting a vast sweep of the artist’s images – almost 80 – this exhibition was initially developed by the National Library of Australia from their comprehensive collection of Dombrovskis’s work.

His works are held in the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Australian Heritage Commission, as well as private collections.

Dombrovskis once commented “photography is, quite simply, a means of communicating my concern for the beauty of the Earth.”

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February

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.

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.

Melbourne: 11 Feb – 25 April 2026. Familial brings together six international artists whose work navigates the emotional and psychological terrain of family.

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.

Melbourne: 7 March – 24 May 2026. Photos of flowers from the NGA collection by prominent photographers drawn such as Robert Mapplethorpe and four groundbreaking Australian photographers.

Melbourne: 10 March – 5 May 2026. TOPshots is an annual celebration of emerging photo-media artists selected from a large pool of entries.

April

Sydney: 15 April – 9 May 2026. An exhibition of fine art photography celebrating the intersection of maritime history and the human form.