AGWA Reading Room

YAP member Grace Cole speaks to Pulse Perspectives artist Tayla Wetherall about her work Don’t you forget about me. Inspired by Tayla’s personal experience during Covid-19 it’s a piece that speaks of not forgetting family and your connections with them.

Sean Cameron is a young Perth creative whose work he describes as incredibly “existential” and “very gay”. Art for Cameron is a “shield” and an outlet for his more emotional and vulnerable sides, which he often finds hard to express during his daily life.

Anyone who loves art can appreciate its unique capacity to heal, inspire and strengthen our connections with the world and each other. That’s why this year, the AGWA Foundation Appeal is all about supporting Creative Encounters: Arts & Dementia at AGWA.

For Reconciliation Week, we sat down with Sandra Hill to discuss her series, her artistic practice and thoughts on reconciliation in Australia and whether galleries and museums such as AGWA are doing enough or whether more action should be taken.

Tee Ken Ng chats with us about his journey to becoming one of Australia’s most sought after animators, zoetropes and his collaboration with childhood friend, Tim Minchin.

A style that exhibits the very fundamentals of the human condition, from the heroic, to the despicable, the humble and deplorable, the principled and the fallen – portraiture allows us to understand not only the subject, but ourselves.
national portrait prize

From the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement to the global impact of COVID-19, 2020 has undoubtedly been a year of extremes. Recently our curators selected a series of works from your State Collection that reflect recent events.

For decades, and with an almost unnerving focus, Gallery staff and Board researched, planned and lobbied for a new building.

AGWA Curator Carly Lane outlines curatorial practices specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.

At a time when the injustices of racism and inequality are magnified, this exhibition signals our commitment to ensure that all voices and stories are heard, and to stand up against racism in any form.

In 2012, conservation of a historical work from the State Collection led to an unexpected discovery.

WA Day is a chance to celebrate everything that makes this state unique: our people, our lifestyle, our culture and our potential.

Breaking with the convention of depicting a physical self, Iris Francis’s Self Portrait 1940 is an arrangement of objects that represent various aspects of the artist’s everyday life.

AGWA Gently is a creative play project for young children (and for all of us needing gentle ways of being with the world right now).

Now in its eighteenth year, the annual Tom Malone Prize showcases the skill and ingenuity of some of Australia’s most accomplished glass artists.

Lesley Murray’s Black Soldier is a commemorative work which has both personal and public resonance.

In a special ceremony on International Women’s Day this month, long-serving AGWA Gallery Guide Dorothea Hansen-Knarhoi was inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame for her extensive contribution to arts and culture in this state.

From an early age Western Australian artist, Christopher Pease displayed a talent for the arts. His mother Sandra Hill and brother Ben Pushman are also well-known Noongar artists with works included in many significant collections.

Presenting works from 1970 to today, the AGWA Contemporary collection reveals the wide span of contemporary art practice with its diverse range of media, themes and identities.

Currently showing at the AGWA, The Botanical: Beauty and Peril exhibition brings together works from the State Art Collection and that of Janet Holmes à Court in a wide-ranging, and often bracing look at representations of the Australian landscape.

This month, as part of our AGWA Pulse program, the Art Gallery of WA was the setting for an inspiring and thought-provoking panel discussion on climate change.

FLOCK is a monthly forum created by, and for, Perth independent artists as a regular space to gather, connect and engage with each other’s creative practices.

Ben Bannan knows a thing or two about how to carve a successful path in Western Australia’s arts industry having been selected as a Pulse Perspectives artist in 2014 and Hatched 2018.

Earlier this month I attended Pathways to Practice, an event the dually presented by AGWA and PICA. Featuring artists from the Pulse Perspectives and Hatched 2019 exhibition.

ART BALL – It’s not your usual black-tie gala. Find out why it’s touted as the event on Perth’s social calendar.

As a group from Waringarri Aboriginal Arts in the East Kimberley, we are proud to present our Wirnan Project as part of the Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley exhibition.

Of the several million tourists who visit Australia each year, many will leave with what they assume is an authentic souvenir of Aboriginal Australian culture.

AGWA launched the Next Collective last year – a new group for young professionals who want to make a difference in the arts and have a say in the direction of the beloved State Art Collection.

Broadly speaking I’m just generally fascinated by the history of the decorative arts and also by the history of Britain during the Eighteenth Century. This project brings those two obsessions together.

Mark your calendar for October 27 as we celebrate our third year of exhibiting the finalists selected for the prestigious Black Swan Prize for Portraiture.

Walking into Biomess – The Tissue Culture and Art Project exhibition at AGWA is like stepping into a surreal combination of art exhibition, museum display and a scientific lab.

We all know the story of Ned Kelly; the young Irish larrikin who became an outlaw and was the target of one of the most legendary police chases in Australian history.

August 11th marked an important day in AGWA history, as the Gallery celebrated the reopening of its Historical Collection; part of the permanent AGWA Collection displays which spans across many time periods in Australian and international art.

On 13 October the next exhibition in AGWA’s successful Culture Juice program will open.

Swedish artist, Gustav Hellberg’s new work Amnesia is influenced by his time in the Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun region, located approximately 590 kilometres from Perth.

On Saturday 16 June, toast farewell to the Corsini Collection over a magnificent Italian feast.

As A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection exhibition comes to a close on the 18 June, we catch up with Voluntary Guru Guides Stephanie Watson and Louise Gillett to find out which work was their favourite.

It was Tom Moore’s meticulous attention to detail and execution of a unique concept that captured the attention and votes of the Tom Malone Prize judges this year.

As drivers and fans of Alfa Romeo, the second vehicle in the new line-up is pivotal to the renaissance of the Alfa Romeo brand.

One of Australia’s most exciting artists, Khai Liew was in Perth to take part in the judging of this year’s Tom Malone Prize – the Gallery’s annual event for showcasing the best in Australian glass art.

It wasn’t until Adelina Holil joined Young Mercies, a school group dedicated to raising awareness on issues associated with ethical trading, that she began to learn the ugly truth behind child labour and sweatshops.

The oldest paintings from the Corsini Collection currently on display are by Giovanni Santi and date from the late 1400s.

First Nation artist Julie Dowling is an activist, a visionary and an artist. Earlier this week we spoke to Julie about her current exhibition Babanyu – Friends for life showing at AGWA.

Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures is a compelling new exhibition presented by AGWA and the Western Australian Museum.

AGWA’s next international exhibition, A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection: Masterpieces from Florence, arrives in Perth, next February for an exclusive Australian season.