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

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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.