ANU Art Collection featured in Shifting Space at SoA&D Gallery

Works from the ANU Art Collection were recently on display as part of Shifiting Space at the ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, curated by Deidre Brollo and Rebecca Mayo, from 15 September to 2 October 2026. The exhibition presented works by Raymond Arnold, Dhalmula #2 Burarrwaŋa, Deidre Brollo, Dean Cross, Clare Humphries, Julie Gough, Bea Maddock, Wayilkpa Maymuru, Naminapu Maymuru-White, Rebecca Mayo, Sara Morawetz, Richard Nelson, Anna Madeline Raupach, Alick Tipoti and Judy Watson.

Shifting Space presents works by artists who have used print practices and methods to tell stories and ask questions about the sometimes steadfast, often shifting, relations with the land, sea and skies of this continent. It brings together a selection of works which harness the print operations of touch, pressure and contact to reveal, make sense of, and unravel the systems of knowledge that shape our world and worldviews.

Print is by its nature indexical; it is defined by a moment of contact, of surfaces meeting, and evidenced by the changed nature of these surfaces. The resulting impression reveals to us something of the pressure that was exerted, whether it be gentle or tender, firm, or even violent.

While this evidentiary role of print can be used to record, to prove and uphold truth, it can also be fraught or duplicitous, as the weight of evidence or omission exerts its own form of pressure. In the tireless investigation of archives by Gough, Watson and Brollo, the print record is read for both what it says and what it does not say.

Print continues to be used as a record, but it can also be repurposed to undo dominant narratives, to universalise and expand experiences, and conversely, to make them local and specific (and therefore familiar and affecting). Bea Maddock’s dislocated images of cities exploding continue to trouble us today, prompting Mayo to reflect on these works through the intimacy of her garden. In the works of Humphries, Morawetz and Raupach, records of the night skies re-examined through print and its operations reveal untold histories, while Burarrwaŋa, Maymuru, Maymuru-White, Morris and Tipoti recount vital stories connecting sea, sky and Country. Though beyond our own apprehension, these works reveal the unfathomable depths and inconceivable heights of these places.

Artists employing print methods in their practice understand the relationship between pressure and fact intuitively. From Dean Cross’ dragged impressions of the Parliamentary Triangle, to the Troopie press recording the contact between carved wood, Country and motor vehicle, and Yolŋu artists sharing previously restricted designs in pursuit of justice in the Land Rights struggle, we see and feel pressure re-presented and reclaimed.

The works in this exhibition speak across time and space, pin-pointing pressure points, and at times, offering a lighter touch, but always asking us to consider where matter and knowledge are held, produced and circulated.

Deidre Brollo & Rebecca Mayo, exhibition catalogue

Below is a selection of installation images from Shifting Space. All images by Ashley St George/PewPew Studio.