Past Exhibitions

Return to nature

8 July 2022 to 18 September 2022

Landscape as a subject has persisted through art history, but perspectives on it have shifted through time, just as attitudes towards Australia’s landscape have varied considerably throughout recent history. Seeing through the lenses of over 40 photographers, including colonialists of the 1870s and contemporary artists working today, Return to nature considers the Australian landscape in its many forms. From nature as something to conquer, to something to protect, this exhibition encompasses a range of approaches to landscape, including an enduring sentiment held by First Nations people that there is no separation between humans and the natural world, rather there is interconnection and interdependence.

Return to nature includes key works from MGA’s significant collection of Australian photographs, as well as a new iteration of ‘Interference pattern’ (2018– ) by Rebecca Nadjowski and Vivian Cooper Smith, a vast and vibrant exploration of what it means to make photographs with the landscape rather than of it.

Curators: Stella Loftus-Hills and Pippa Milne

Artists: Micky Allan, Bruce Attwell, Narelle Autio, Charles Bayliss, Mervyn Bishop, Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas Caire, John Cato, Harold Cazneaux, Peta Clancy, Nici Cumpston, Norman Cathcart Deck, Peter Dombrovskis, Marian Drew, John Bertram Eaton, Peter Elliston, Stanley W Eutrope, Joyce Evans, Anne Ferran, Robert Fielding, Murray Fredericks, Viva Gibb, Tom Goldner, John Gollings, Peter Jarver, John Kauffmann, Charles Kerry, Henry King, Katrin Koenning, Ruth Maddison, Danie Mellor, David Moore, Jack Morrison, Rebecca Najdowski and Vivian Cooper Smith, Terry Naughton, Trent Parke, Jon Rhodes, Jo Scicluna, Wesley Stacey, Samuel Sweet, David Tatnall, Brian Thompson, James Tylor, Ingeborg Tyssen, Gordon Undy, Amanda Williams, Laurie Wilson

Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are respectfully advised that this exhibition contains images of people (and mentions in writing those) who have passed away.