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

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May

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

June

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.

August

Melbourne: Until 15 November 2026. This exhibition will present the most comprehensive survey of the work of the eminent Hungarian-born, French photographer Brassaï yet to be seen in Australia.

Sydney: 24 August 2026 – 18 July 2027. Featuring almost 200 images and original prints personally selected by Dupain for magazine and book publishers, the exhibition reveals the extraordinary breadth of his work.

September

Melbourne: Until 19 February 2027. Spanning 55 years from 1971, Chapman’s visual journey began aboard the ‘Green Bus’ from Elsternwick to Melbourne’s city centre – chronicling the evolution of Australian life along the way.

Melbourne: Multiple exhibitions including – Bowness Photography Prize 2026 + Sarah Rhodes | The Inner Sky. Both until 8 November 2026.

October

Perth: Until 31 January 2027. The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) presents No night is long enough for us to dream twice, a major exhibition of contemporary photography and video, bringing together more than 100 works by seven living artists and one artist duo from across South West Asia, North Africa and its many diasporas.

Sydney: 10 October – 14 November 2026. Metropolis: Street Photography 1985–2025 displays over four decades of life within the modern human environment. The work transitions from the tough, film-noir streets of 1980’s New York to the time surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall – to the modern colour saturated, hard-shadowed geometry of contemporary Australian streets.

Sydney: Until 31 October 2027. Explore five decades of extraordinary photography by one of Australia’s most important and influential photojournalists, Lorrie Graham.

November

Sydney: 6 to 29 November 2026. Head On Head On curated exhibitions at Bondi, Paddington Reservoir Gardens and various affiliated galleries for the month of November.