This landscape holds grief by Paula Mahoney

Paula Mahoney. Together in the valley, with the shadow of death 2022. Finalist, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award 2022; © Image courtesy of the artist.
© Paula Mahoney. Together in the valley, with the shadow of death, 2022.
Finalist, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award 2022.

This landscape holds grief by Paula Mahoney is the inaugural Wai Tang Commissioning Award exhibition. Mahoney is the first artist to be awarded the $10,000 commission and was selected from the 2021 Bowness Photography Prize.

As part of the commission, one work will enter the MGA’s significant collection of Australian photographs in honour of Wai Tang. The award has been established by Wai Tang’s husband, Kee Wong, to recognise and honour her significant impact on the arts and preserve her legacy within MGA’s collection and exhibition history.

The exhibition is the result of a residency at Q Bank Gallery in Queenstown, Tasmania, in January this year and explores the relationship between personal loss, our history, and how grief can echo in the Australian landscape as an absence.

Mahoney’s work represents an ongoing examination of death and personal loss through the vehicle of performative photography and portraiture, frequently depicting herself, daughter, niece, and sisters, wearing clothes of dead loved ones. This landscape holds grief returns the image of death and mourning into public consciousness in a way that combines hope and despair.

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April

Canberra: 27 Feb until 20 July 2025. The National Library has invited renowned Australian photojournalist Mike Bowers to select some of his favourite images from the Fairfax Photo Archive.

Brisbane: Until 13 July 2025. Amateur Brisbane photographer Alfred Henrie Elliott (1870-1954) extraordinary images lay dormant for decades until they were discovered only recently. This exhibition is curated by seven Brisbane photographers.

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.

May

Sydney: 15 May – 19 October. Showcasing 100 incredible images, this remarkable exhibition offers a window into the astonishing variety of life on our planet – and the critical importance of preserving it.

Perth: From 31 May – 28 Sept 2025. Featuring 85 works from three major series – Deep Springs, Overpass, and Cross Country – the exhibition spans twelve years of Contis’s evolving photographic practice.

June

Melbourne: June 5 - 16 August 2025. The explore the history of Alan Adler's photobooths and their cultural significance, alongside visual stories told by the community.

Adelaide: 7 June – 16 August. Drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection, this photographic exhibition captures the experience of lives lived through dance.

Melbourne: 7 June – 31 August. Protest is a Creative Act seeks to address issues around the body, sexuality, race, national identity and the environment.

Canberra; June 19 - July 12 2025. The River Report is a five-day map of when a normal Yitilal (wet season) turned into a major disaster and the local inhabitants were once again displaced.