THE TRUTH ABOUT: Art gallery of new south wales - The Untold Story

In an exhibition tracing 1,500 years of art, Vishnu’s avatars offer tonic for our times

In the contemporary imagination, the word “avatar” may conjure James Cameron’s blue Na’vi people.

The Conversation · Jun 25

Richard Lewer wins Archibald Prize with radiant portrait of traditional healer Iluwanti Ken

Melbourne-based artist Richard Lewer has been awarded the prestigious Archibald Prize for his life-sized portrait of senior artist and ngangkari (traditional healer) Iluwanti Ken.

The Conversation · May 8

Stories open to interpretation: the 2026 Biennale of Sydney embraces narratives with multiple meanings

Storytelling is at the heart of Rememory, the 25th Biennale of Sydney. And we humans like nothing better than being told a tale.

The Conversation · Mar 18

The artist as creator of all things: Julie Fragar wins the Archibald for a portrait among the stars

Beatrice Gralton, who curated this year’s Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, has hung the exhibition well. Julie Fragar’s Archibald-winning portrait of her friend and fellow artist Justene Williams is impossible to miss in the central court of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

The Conversation · May 9, 2025

Archibald Packing Room Prize goes to Abdul Abdullah for Jason Phu portrait, among broader set of bold and deeply personal works

More than 50 years ago, when I was a junior curatorial assistant at the Art Gallery of NSW, I had the daunting experience of hanging the annual Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.

The Conversation · May 2, 2025

The work of Chinese artist Cao Fei explores our brave new human condition in a technological world

Internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Cao Fei’s first retrospective in Australia, My City is Yours at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, sets out to disorient and overstimulate the senses.

The Conversation · Dec 12, 2024

Nusra Latif Qureshi’s art invites us to confront colonial histories – and the messy threads that led us to the present

At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, spread across four rooms on the lowest floor of the main building, sits Nusra Latif Qureshi’s first major solo exhibition, Birds in Far Pavilions.

The Conversation · Nov 26, 2024

Angelica Mesiti’s The Rites of When finally makes sense of the Art Gallery of NSW’s Tank. It is worth the plane flight

The Nelson Packer Tank, that cavernous space at the very bottom of the Art Gallery of NSW’s Naala Badu building, has been waiting for art like this.

The Conversation · Sep 24, 2024

The Lindsays: how 10 siblings from the 19th century shaped Australian art and identity

Most Australians have heard of Norman Lindsay’s fantastical children’s book The Magic Pudding (1918).

The Conversation · Aug 7, 2024

Laura Jones wins the 2024 Archibald Prize with a portrait of Tim Winton, part of a grand artistic tradition

In awarding this year’s Archibald Prize to Laura Jones’ portrait of the writer Tim Winton, the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales are doing what they do best: catapulting a relatively unknown artist to instant fame and possible fortune.

The Conversation · Jun 7, 2024