Return to nature – group exhibition

Return to nature includes key works from MGA’s significant collection of Australian photographs, as well as a new iteration of ‘Interference pattern’ (2018– ) by Rebecca Nadjowski and Vivian Cooper Smith, a vast and vibrant exploration of what it means to make photographs with the landscape rather than of it.

© Narelle Autio. Untitled #6, 2012, from the series, Water hole.
Chromogenic print, 82.0 x 119.7 cm. Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection. Donated by Narelle Autio 2021, courtesy of the artist, Hugo Michell Gallery (Adelaide) and Michael Reid (Sydney).
© Narelle Autio. Untitled #6, 2012, from the series, Water hole. Chromogenic print, 82.0 x 119.7 cm. Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection. Donated by Narelle Autio 2021, courtesy of the artist, Hugo Michell Gallery (Adelaide) and Michael Reid (Sydney).

The exhibition features images seen through the lenses of over 40 photographers, including colonialists of the 1870s to contemporary artists working today, and considers the Australian landscape in its many forms.

From nature as something to conquer, to something to protect, this exhibition encompasses a range of approaches to landscape, including an enduring sentiment held by First Nations people that there is no separation between humans and the natural world, rather there is interconnection and interdependence.

The exhibition open on Saturday, 9 July, at 1pm.

Curators: Stella Loftus-Hills and Pippa Milne

List of artists: Micky Allan, Bruce Attwell, Narelle Autio, Charles Bayliss, Mervyn Bishop, Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas Caire, John Cato, Harold Cazneaux, Peta Clancy, Nici Cumpston, Norman Cathcart Deck, Peter Dombrovskis, Marian Drew, John Bertram Eaton, Peter Elliston, Stanley W Eutrope, Joyce Evans, Anne Ferran, Robert Fielding, Murray Fredericks, Viva Gibb, Tom Goldner, John Gollings, Peter Jarver, John Kauffmann, Henry King, Katrin Koenning, Ruth Maddison, Danie Mellor, David Moore, Jack Morrison, Rebecca Najdowski and Vivian Cooper Smith, Terry Naughton, Trent Parke, Jon Rhodes, Jo Scicluna, Wesley Stacey, Samuel Sweet, David Tatnall, Brian Thompson, James Tylor, Ingeborg Tyssen, Gordon Undy, Amanda Williams, Laurie Wilson

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

November

Sydney: The exhibition delves into the State Library of NSW's vast collection of two million images, showcasing 400 photos – many displayed for the first time.

February

Ballarat: Scotty So is a Melbourne-based artist who works across media, using painting, photography, sculptures, site-responsive installation, videos and drag performance.

Melbourne: Jill Orr’s The Promised Land Refigured is an exhibition that reworks the original project created in 2012 with new insights that have emerged in the past eleven years.

Sydney: Curated by Lynn Smith, Urban Enigmas aims to unlock the subtle mysteries that lurk in out-of-the-way places in big cities: back lanes, river banks, street markets, abandoned factories, old bridges and so on.

March

Ballarat: Nan Goldin is an American artist whose work explores subcultures, moments of intimacy, the impacts of the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics on her communities, and photography as a tool for social activism.

Sydney: The Ocean Photographer of the Year Award, run by London based Oceanographic Magazine is in its 4th year and has quickly achieved recognition amongst photographers around the world.

Albury: The National Photography Prize offers a $30,000 acquisitive prize, the $5000 John and Margaret Baker Fellowship for an emerging practitioner, and further supports a number of artists through focused acquisitions.