Past exhibitions

Through her vividly coloured large scale sculptural objects, Rebecca Ross’s solo exhibition explored an array of ideas and influences including Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Drawing on inspirations accumulated during her global travels, the artist examined how in our busy lives, we are continually planning ahead instead of ‘living in the now’. The components of the installation, which exactly match Ross’s personal dimensions, posed the question – how far does the radius of my life and work reach?

Rebecca Ross was awarded an inaugural Lord Mayor’s Young and Emerging Artists Fellowship in 2003. Although she has exhibited widely, this was her first museum exhibition.

A curators essay for this exhibition is still available here.

The Big Picture threw a spotlight on a 1928 painting by well-respected Brisbane artist William Bustard – seeking to draw out stories about our city, concealed beneath its painted surface.

Visitors to the exhibition were given glimpses of Brisbane’s past through this intriguing work of art.

Visit our online exhibition here.

Prejudice & Pride: Recognising the contribution of the LGBT communities to Brisbane

To coincide with the 20 year anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Queensland, Museum of Brisbane presented this respectful and dignified exploration of the lives of LGBT people in Brisbane over the past 150 years.

Prejudice & Pride went behind the rainbow flag, offering reflections and recollections from Brisbane’s LGBT community. With an emphasis on recognition, the exhibition paid tribute to the lives within our community that have for too long been hidden.

By breaking down the myths and stereotypes associated with these communities, Prejudice & Pride revealed the real effect discrimination has on people’s lives and highlighted the continued need for acceptance and understanding of LGBT people.

The exhibition also celebrated unique LGBT culture – the importance of ‘reclaimed’ words and common language, identity and iconic symbols like the pink triangle and rainbow flag.

Visitors to Prejudice & Pride were able to experience Brisbane’s LGBT history, including personal stories of intolerance and struggle, and provided an opportunity to celebrate the important milestones and achievements of these diverse communities.

Museum of Brisbane was awarded the top honour at the 2010 Gallery & Museum Achievement Awards (GAMAA) Prejudice & Pride: Recognising the contribution of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities to Brisbane.

This prestigious industry award is highly regarded by the museum and gallery sector. GAMMA acknowledged Museum of Brisbane as being at the forefront of international museum practice. The award paid tribute to Museum of Brisbane’s courage and innovation for their sensitive exploration of the LGBT community – considered to be an Australian first for a major museum.

I am the kind of person….
I am the kind of person you should choose to have with you.
You are the kind of person I would choose to have with me.

The young and emerging artistic duo of Catherine Sagin and Kate Woodcroft explore the dynamics of collaboration through interactions with objects and the environment around them.

Through video, performance and custom built structures, their practice is a dedicated study of interaction between gallery and viewer, resulting in a surprising installation that was playful and humourous.

A collaborative exhibition by Catherine Sagin formerly known as Fiona Mail.

A curators essay for this exhibition is still available here.

The Stoke: Skateboarding in Brisbane

Discover the meaning of ‘the stoke’ as MoB investigates the enduring
culture of skateboarding in Brisbane – its people, legends and stories.

The Stoke was an exciting all access pass to Brisbane skateboarding history and culture for everyone – hardcore skateboarders, the uninitiated, museum lovers, design aficionados, extreme sports heads and fans of pop-culture.

The Stoke also explored the intersection of physical and artistic expression that defines the pursuit of skateboarding and the camaraderie that unites Brisbane skateboarders from all walks of life from the 1960s to today.

A highlight was a replica skate bowl, inspired by the legendary

Moorooka Skate Shed, that came alive throughout the exhibition with demonstrations and workshops involving members of Brisbane’s skateboarding community. The bowl has subsequently been donated and rehoused at the God Bowl, 22 Weckers Road, Mansfield, were it can continue to be enjoyed by the community.

Just in case:
we run out of time,
you change your mind,
I don’t see you, you don’t like it ,
we miss each other,
you forget ,
the house burns down,
you get lucky,
it starts to rain,
I can’t think of any thing,
I fall asleep,
we need a place to stay,
you get hurt ,
it get s cold,
you get lost ,
it doesn’t’ t work out ,
you get nervous ,
you want to stay.

Alice Lang’s materially driven sculptures reference a range of sewing techniques and material influences including puff paints, second hand fabrics and appliqué to create a tension between the decorative and the grotesque, form and formlessness, allure and repulsion.

This work for Museum of Brisbane explored the adaptability of sculptural objects as communicative, inhabitable and wearable spaces.

A curator’s essay for this exhibition is still available here.

Moorooka Encounters went to the heart of Moorooka’s shopping strip, Beaudesert Road – one of Brisbane’s most vibrant traditional shopping areas. Maintaining a ‘high street’ atmosphere, it provides tangible evidence of Brisbane’s multicultural communities, with its businesses run by a fascinating and diverse cross section of people.

This exhibition shared the unique and personal stories of Moorooka business owners and employees including their hopes for their businesses and their reflections about Moorooka. Discover what makes this community unique to Brisbane.

Moorooka identities whose stories featured in the exhibition included Italian Mario Grimaldi of Piccolino’s; Ethiopian Tesfaye Tefera who opened Made in Africa in 1992; Mu’ooz Eritrean Restaurant and Catering Business manager Saba Abraham; Sudanese-born Alsiddig AA. (Adam) Mohammed who runs Umdorman Café and Jeff Ballment from the Karpaty Ukranian Credit Union.

Moorooka Encounters was written by Zenovia Pappas with photography by Russell Shakespeare.

Following the success of Temperature: Contemporary Queensland Sculpture in 2004,

Museum of Brisbane once again explored out who is heating up the local contemporary art scene in 2009.

‘Taking the temperature’ describes the practice of monitoring and interpreting to better understand the condition of something – in this case, the current work from some Queenslands most outstanding artists.

This exhibition, showcasing work by more than 20 artists from Brisbane and Queensland, included painting, drawing photography, installation and multi-media.

Paul Adair

Tony Albert

Peter Alwast

Chris Booth

Kirsty Bruce

Dadang Christanto

Matt Dabrowski and the Many Hands of Glamour

Karl de Waal

Julie Fragar

Sally Gabori

Diena Georgetti

Miles Hall

Jennie Jackson

Kyle Jenkins

Madeleine Kelly

Bob Mercer

Francesca Rosa

Rebecca Ross

Gemma Smith

David M Thomas

Daniel Wallwork

Anika Wilkins

This project received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

Museum of Brisbane presented this compelling solo exhibition by Brisbane-born artist Andrea Fisher. Everyday featured hand-crafted bracelets and photographs that provided an insight into both the artist’s practice and the issues faced by young Indigenous people everyday. The shackles presented in the exhibition reminded us all of a harrowing past and yet the jewellery and gestured captured in the photographs are very much a reflection of today.

As Brisbane celebrated 150 years of the establishment of the city as a municipality, throughout 2009, Museum of Brisbane presented work by Indigenous artists to celebrate, acknowledge and honour the long history, culture and heritage of Indigenous people of the region.

Silky oak, with its dappled patterning and golden hue, is the timber loved by Queenslanders.

Since the 19th Century, we’ve used it in our homes and public buildings, the furniture and ornamentation within, as well as everyday items from the magnificent to the mundane. Silky oak trees scatter the hills and valleys of Brisbane. Its spectacular golden flowers make it one of our most popular trees, appearing in parks, gardens and avenues. Silky oak is a quintessential part of our regional culture.

Museum of Brisbane’s exhibition combined social, environmental and design history to explore the special qualities of this distinctive local tree. Displayed were pieces of fine furniture from the 19th and 20th Centuries, fascinating historical items from the timber industry and a wide range of everyday and domestic objects.

Contemporary furniture commissions, created by four of Queensland’s leading designers, that showcase the rich qualities and possibilities of silky oak, were one of the exhibition’s highlights. This celebration of our design heritage aimed to ensure that this special timber remains important to Queenslanders for generations to come.

Proudly supported by Signature Brisbane

What do we believe? What do others believe? Do we share similarities and common experiences? In what ways are our faiths or spiritual beliefs unique?

These are some of the questions that Communities of Faith Walking Together explored. This exhibition reflected some of the beliefs, practices and rituals of a number of Brisbane’s diverse faith and spiritual communities. The exhibition was developed to increase understanding and respect between faith communities and foster awareness within the wider community.

Communities of Faith Walking Together evolved over several years. It began when faith communities expressed interest in an arts-based project to encourage inter-cultural understanding. Communities of Faith Walking Together utilised the combined efforts of nine religious / spiritual groups, their leaders and communities. Contributors included the Ba’hai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Taoist faiths and Aboriginal spirituality.

Representatives from each group made contributions to planning, writing, sourcing quotes from sacred texts and having their faith practices photographed. Communities of Faith Walking Together did not attempt to represent all religions, faiths or spiritual practices. Nor did it provide detail about theology or ritual. Instead it provided a snapshot of spiritual practices: revealing some of the long traditions, rich histories, inter-relationships and currency of faith and spiritual practices in Brisbane.

A Brisbane City Council Community Arts Initiative.

Photography: Judy Parrott, Mark Crocker and Jo-Anne Driessens.

The importance of the river as a metaphor is a constant in this artist’s paintings. The river takes Joanne back to the hardships of her early life living on the banks of the Maranoa River in Mitchell, through her own journey to today with her family in Caloundra.

Her paintings speak of the river as a living entity, the rippling of the surface and the changes on the water can be seen as the many different events of her own life and provides reflection for the viewer on our own life’s course.

“I grew up on the ‘Yumba’, by the banks of the Maranoa River in the 1960s. I’m using black and white a lot now, ..it’s a strong contrast…I use different colours underneath to give them a different atmosphere. When I paint the white rivers, it’s very calm and peaceful. The black ones are harder to paint. They remind me of the pressure around me. Painting helps keep myself together. Thinking of family, the good times and bad times. But that river is really a symbol of all rivers, for all people I think…I think of the Maranoa but it could be any river…”

Joanne Currie Nalingu has been painting professionally since 1989 and has exhibited since 1990 in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. In 2008 she won The Wynne Prize at The Art Gallery of NSW and has been a finalist 6 times in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards at Museums and Galleries of the Northern Territory Darwin. She has also exhibited at Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne and Queensland regional galleries. Joanne’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including: Queensland Art Gallery/GoMA; Queensland Museum; Museum of Brisbane; The Brisbane Airport Corporation and collaborative public artworks with Campfire group artists in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

As Brisbane celebrated 150 years of the establishment of the city as a municipality, throughout 2009, Museum of Brisbane presented work by Indigenous artists to celebrate, acknowledge and honour the long history, culture and heritage of Indigenous people of the region.

All images:

Dark River Line 2009 (detail). Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane (Photography: Mick Richards).

It keeps going, all day, all night, never stopping, constantly moving. Energy is concentrated, life is dense. People plan, build, create networks and co-exist. Neighbourhoods hum with life. The city is like a machine – each part connected to other parts to create a complex whole. The city machine connects us all.

This fascinating exhibition from Museum of Brisbane explored this notion and uncovered what keeps our city ticking by digging deep into the archives of Brisbane City Council and beyond to reveal how Brisbane was ‘made’.

Visitors were able to discover amazing historical documents and illustrations – the proclamations, plans and diagrams of Brisbane’s first roads, bridges, reservoirs and tramways, and objects such as Brisbane’s first water pipes and the wooden pavers that once lined Queen Street. Also on display, for the first time in Queensland, were the original petitions from the people of Brisbane that gave birth to our city.

A major highlight of this exhibition was MoB’s own ‘city machine’ – an enormous interactive installation that dominated the gallery space, allowing vistorGet up close and touch, feel and experience our rich history first hand.

City Machine is presented by Museum of Brisbane and City Archives.

Throughout 2009, this engaging sculptural work activated and animated significant public spaces across Brisbane, encouraging discussion about water and energy resources, sustainability and creative thinking. Visible for a few days in one location, it disappeared suddenly to reappear again, inhabiting a new space in the public realm.

People were able to follow the journey of LANDscapers and experience the work over and over again in a whole new perspective as it made  it’s way across Brisbane, transforming each new site into a voluminous sculptural garden of floating, lucent vines.

Nicole Voevodin-Cash and Elizabeth Woods are public artists who work collaboratively on projects that investigate site and interaction. Through their explorations, they investigate the natural environment, site specifity, landscaping, cooking, and sewing. They push boundaries with their art and audiences to question “What is Art?” and “What is art good for?”

LANDscapers received financial assistance through Arts Queensland from art+place, the Queensland Government’s Public Art Fund.

Through this startling installation work, Archie Moore asked visitors to re-consider the notion of how our community celebrates. Moore invited participants to ‘join the in-crowd at the Club’s birthday. But be warned, the seats are limited! Will you be allowed in?’

Archie Moore, named after the famous African-American boxer, exhibits nationally and internationally. His work communicates a deep understanding of cultural content from an urban viewpoint. His interest in language developed from negative childhood experiences, which he now deconstructs, altering their meanings. In 1998 he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the Queensland University of Technology, and in 2001 was awarded a Millennial Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship to undertake a non-degree research program at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, in the Czech Republic. In 2008, he was a finalist in the Xtrata Emerging Indigenous Art Award.

As Brisbane celebrated 150 years of the establishment of the city as a municipality, throughout 2009, Museum of Brisbane presented work by Indigenous artists to celebrate, acknowledge and honour the long history, culture and heritage of Indigenous people of the region.

Talking TAPA: Pasifika Bark Cloth in Queensland showcased the diversity of Pacific Islander cultural practices, heritage and visual iconography through this exhibition exploring the beaten bark cloth known as tapa.

Tapa which is mainly made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, is created and used throughout the Pacific. Tapa decorations include plant and animal motifs, clan and family patterning and representations of important contemporary and historical events.

Works from around the Pasifika region including Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, were on show. Visitors were able to learn more about our Pacific neighbours through wall hangings, traditional and contemporary clothing including wedding outfits, as well as the tools and implements used to make tapa.

A national travelling exhibition presented by Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre, curated by Joan G Winter and toured by Museum and Gallery Services Queensland. This exhibition was supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government Program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia, Gambling Machine Community Benefit Fund and Brisbane City Council.

An exhibition for anyone who’s known the thrill of dressing up for a special occasion.

In Fashion celebrated dressing up in Brisbane by showcasing a collection of women’s fashion, sourced from the private collections of Brisbane women and designers.

From different eras in Brisbane’s history, each garment opened a window into a fascinating story about dressing up for a special event. Through the ball gowns and bustles of by-gone years, exquisite wedding dresses to runway couture, visitors gained  insights into Brisbane’s fashionable precincts, events and memorable moments.

As well as the historical and vintage garments on display, In Fashion featured the local contemporary designers who have taken Brisbane fashion to national and international acclaim including Bora, Easton Pearson and sass & bide, with designs worn by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Hawkins and the always in fashion, Sarah Jessica Parker.

The exhibition will also explored the local fashion scene from the 1980s to this season’s new crop of designers, looking at the fashion superstars, the innovative visionaries and the talents that shaped what Brisbane women wear today.

Getting out of town and escaping the busy city for a few days filled with sun, sand, surf and scenic views has long been a favourite pastime. This nostalgic yet revealing exhibition celebrated the day trips, weekends and holidays at the north coast that Brisbane residents have enjoyed from the 19th Century to the present day.

Up the Coast was presented in partnership with the Cultural Heritage Branch, Department of Environmental and Resource Management.

Museum of Brisbane presented this solo exhibition by Karla Dickens.

Dickens’ work is concerned with feminine power, tradition, and the power of personal narrative. The deaths of two family members provided a catalyst for the artist and are hovering presences, figuratively and literally, in her vividly coloured mixed-media works. The artworks explored personal and profound influences that pulse with intensity and energy.

Karla Dickens is an Indigenous artist who currently lives in Goonellabah. She works in a wide range of materials including painting and sculpture. Her recent work involves richly ornamented and collaged paintings, which use retrieved or scavenged textiles which come with a complex history of use and sentiment.

As Brisbane celebrated 150 years of the establishment of the city as a municipality, throughout 2009, Museum of Brisbane presented work by Indigenous artists to celebrate, acknowledge and honour the long history, culture and heritage of Indigenous people of the region.