Unfinished Business: a 3D photography exhibition

Unfinished Business, is a 3D photographic exhibition on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability.

Created by documentarian Belinda Mason OAM with Dieter and Liam Knierim and developed with the First Peoples Disability Network, the exhibition presents 3D lenticular portraits, a short documentary and a new installation.

Aunty Patti Mundine. Image: Belinda Mason OAM
Aunty Patti Mundine. Image: Belinda Mason OAM

Thirty participants from communities across Australia have contributed.

“Each story is presented on the participants’ terms, encouraging visitors to engage directly with their experiences,” said Australian Museum Director and CEO Kim McKay AO.

The museum worked with Vision Australia and Expression Australia to include tactile panels, audio descriptions, Auslan interpretation and large-print materials.

Audio Description and Auslan tours, along with audio versions of exhibition labels, are available via QR codes.

Australian Museum Director, First Nations, Laura McBride said accessibility was built into the exhibition’s design.

“Ableism and racism continue to affect the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities. This remains unfinished business,” she said.

Unfinished Business was first shown in 2013 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and has since toured internationally. 

The exhibition also features Not Fit for Purpose, an installation by Latja Latja and Narungga Elder Uncle John Baxter, who is one of the 30 participants and the museum’s 2025 Mob at the Museum Cultural Resident.

Using old mobility equipment, the work highlights the cost and limited suitability of many disability aids, particularly in regional and remote areas.

Research indicates that about half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live with a disability or long-term health condition, almost double the rate of the non-Indigenous population.

Free General Admission

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

February

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.

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.

May

Sydney: Until 16 August 2026. 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.

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

Coffs Harbour: 28 May – 29 June 2026. West Of Somewhere East is a photographic series tracing a cinematic journey through the interior of New South Wales, shaped by long drives, fleeting encounters, and the reflective rhythm of return.

June

Sydney: June 6 – 19 July 2026. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 is returning to the State Library of New South Wales from 6 June to 19 July, offering Sydney audiences an uncompromising view of of the unending challenges that humans, and our planet face.

Melbourne: 6 June – 20 August 2026. Brook Andrew is an artist whose conceptual practice shifts across photography, performance, moving image, installation, public space and research, often through deep collaboration with artists, communities and friends.

Melbourne: 6 June – 28 June 2-26. We Built a House Out of Water is a deeply personal body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process.

Melbourne: 26 June – 2 August. Through analogue photographic processes, Dylan Negri aims to immortalised fragments of life that would otherwise disintegrate.