Shire Presidents from Katanning, Kojonup and Gnowangerup joined representatives from the John Curtin Gallery for a guided tour and research discussion centred on the Carrolup artworks currently on display as part of the Once Known exhibition.

Held at 139 St Georges Terrace – Old Perth Boys’ School – Once Known showcases reproductions of the fragile artworks created by Aboriginal children forcibly taken from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s.

The meeting marks an important step in building ongoing partnerships that support community-centred research, cultural stewardship and the continued recognition of the Carrolup artworks’ enduring significance.

Borden local and PhD candidate, �鶹ֱ��, Phoebe Milne whose research explores the cultural, historical and emotional significance of the Carrolup artworks, said the opportunity to speak with the Shire Presidents was an important step in strengthening regional dialogue around the works and their future.

“My PhD looks at the role of respectful, community-led research in shaping the future of the Carrolup artworks,” she said.

“This was an opportunity to consider the Carrolup works not only as historical artefacts, but as living histories that continue to hold deep meaning for communities across the Great Southern.”

Central to the meeting was the identification of opportunities to expand awareness of this work more broadly across the Great Southern region and their respective
communities.

The visit has not only strengthened collaboration between local government leaders, researchers and cultural institutions, but has also paved the way for a shared understanding of Carrolup as history held by communities, not solely by institutions.

Exhibition Details:

Where: 139 St Georges Terrace, Perth (Old Perth Boys’ School)

When: 4 Apr 2025 – 6 Mar 2026, 11am – 4pm: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays – Closed Wednesdays and Weekends

_{Feature Image: Shire Presidents visit Once Known at 139 St Georges Terrace. Image courtesy Phoebe Milne.}

John Curtin Gallery will unite artists from across Australia, South Africa and Indonesia in a series of interrelated exhibitions that share the dynamic exchange of culture, language, song and story, as part of Perth Festival 2026.’

Running from February 6 to May 3, ‘A call and response across the ocean’ is informed by connections spanning the Indian Ocean, which remain despite years of colonisation.

Thania Petersen – JAWAP has at its core a new multi-channel sound work, Jeiker. Created using recordings taken on site in Makassar, Indonesia, Jeiker tells the story of a chant shared between Makassar, Cape Town and Arnhem Land, revealing the
connections between each place.

Petersen’s work traces the migration of Sufi music and ritual, reuniting friendships and family ties severed through transglobal acts of colonisation.

Petersen said sound holds our memory and, when these sounds are decoded, you can hear time, place and people from a different land.

“There was a time when we sang together, otherwise how could we know each other’s songs, each other’s melodies?” Petersen said.

“How would these melodies have transferred from one continent to another?

“There is no way we have been separate our whole existence, because we sing the same songs.”

Petersen’s large-scale installation Rampies Sny, is a community-led work that evokes memory, place and ancestral histories through the sense of smell.

Created on-site in Perth, Rampies Sny comprises of thousands of small organza bags, each filled with freshly cut citrus leaves and infused with frankincense and essential oils.

These aromas permeate the gallery with what Petersen describes as “smells that recall a thousand places.”

Traditionally gifted to men during religious rituals, the satchels function here as gestures of love, while evoking the lands from which Petersen’s ancestors were forcibly taken.

Petersen’s Australian premiere film, the titular JAWAP, reunites what colonialism severed, tracing the Indian Ocean as a pathway of return.

Psychedelic visuals and a five-channel soundtrack evoke a cyclical, non-linear landscape where past and future selves evolve together.

In the exhibition Dhomala, a celebration of sail-making and oceanic travel provides a deeper context to the connections between Australia and Indonesia and continues the narrative of Petersen’s work.

Historic and contemporary works by Yolŋu and Makassan artists span a range of media, including animation, drawing and textiles. Together, they explore the dynamic exchange of culture, language, song and story that has shaped this relationship since pre-colonial times.

Complimenting these interrelated exhibitions are ocean-themed works within the Gallery’s Atrium. Greeting audiences to the space are the lyrics to Maambakoort – the Noongar word for ocean – by acclaimed soul artist Bumpy.

Inviting reflection on belonging, identity and the enduring connection between people, place and ocean, the song is accompanied by powerful �鶹ֱ�� Art Collection works from artists including Brian Robinson and Laurel Nannup.

Through immersive installations, film, sound and historical works, A call and response across the ocean invites visitors to experience the rhythms, stories and scents of the Indian Ocean, tracing connections across continents and reflecting on the enduring legacies of cultural exchange and resilience.

Featured Image: Abdi Karya and Nebbie Burrarwanga at the opening event of A call and response across the ocean. Credit Marnie Richardson.

The John Curtin Gallery’s 2026 program focuses on art as a catalyst for cultural exchange, critical reflection and future imagining. An exploration into global connections, First Nations perspectives and regional voices, the program invites audiences to engage with history, resilience and radical possibility.

Bunuru Season

A call and response across the ocean:

Thania Peterson – JAWAP

Dhomala

A call and response across the ocean brings together living histories of the Indian Ocean, reuniting friendships and kin ties that were severed through transglobal acts of colonisation. This reconnection offers a vision of the world in which generosity, empathy and cross-cultural collaboration can begin to heal the wounds of the past. Petersen’s large-scale olfactory installation Rampies Sny and film JAWAP – an Australian premiere – fill the galleries with smell, sound and sumptuous imagery.

Petersen’s new multi-channel sound work Jeiker uses recordings taken on site in Makassar, Indonesia, in collaboration with Makassan musicians who hold knowledge of their shared histories. Evoking a call and response across the ocean space, the work explores historical friendships, linking northern Australia, Makassar and Cape Town. In a performative act of decolonisation, Petersen’s work moves beyond trauma to focus instead on friendship and love.

Dhomala provides a deeper context to the connections between Australia and Indonesia. Historical and contemporary artworks from Arnhem Land and Makassar demonstrate the dynamic exchange of culture, language, song and story that have informed this relationship since a pre-colonial era. Sail-making and cross-oceanic trade is celebrated through a range of media including animation, drawing and textiles.

JAWAP and Dhomala draw from living and historical archives of song and story. Collectively these exhibitions unite as A call and response across the ocean, and unpick legacies of colonial oppression, creating shared and celebratory spaces in their place.

Makuru Season

Christopher Pease

Reko Rennie

Christopher Pease is a Minang/Wardandi/Bibbulmun man from Southwestern Australia, whose visual language is at once deeply embedded within the western history of figurative oil painting and traditional Indigenous storytelling.

In 2026, the John Curtin Gallery will present Pease’s first major survey exhibition, featuring significant loans from major public and private institutions, alongside new large-scale paintings. Drawing from Museum archives and his own cultural lineage, Chris Pease explores legacies of colonisation, themes of social justice, land use, and Noongar identity and resilience.

Reko Rennie is an interdisciplinary Australian artist who explores personal and political narratives through the lens of his Aboriginal (Kamilaroi) heritage. Informed by 1970–80s American graffiti culture, Rennie started his practice as a teenage graffiti artist, finding his voice on the surfaces of Melbourne’s city buildings, trains and laneways.

OA_RR (which stands for Original Aboriginal Reko Rennie), is a three-channel video work with a soundtrack by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The work documents, Reko’s emotional journey back to Country in a reclaimed 1973 Rolls-Royce Corniche which he hand painted in his signature camouflage. Rennie drove donuts, or circle-work, into the red earth as the sun sets, the markings simultaneously recalled urban car culture and traditional Kamilaroi sand engravings.

Kambarang Season

Regional Art Triennial – Radical Futures

The third iteration of the Regional Arts Triennial, Radical Futures, explores the role of the arts as a catalyst for change in times of collapse. Focusing on collective imagination and drawing upon the concept of aesthetic force, Radical Futures reveals aspirations for tomorrow, across what is now known as regional Western Australia.

Through the visionary works presented within Radical Futures, regional artists engage in collaboration and collective imagining of more equitable, sustainable futures. Their creations highlight the potential for transformation within ourselves and our communities, with each art form serving as an invitation to reflect deeply on the future. Free from claustrophobic high-rises, traffic jams and suburban sprawl, regional artists have the unique ability to finely attune to the world around them. With lived experience of nuanced challenges and a deep understanding of community aspirations, no one is better equipped to envision a local future that transcends current limitations.

Radical Futures at John Curtin Gallery presents a survey of works selected from exhibitions in 13 regional venues across WA. From Esperance to Carnarvon, Broome to Kalgoorlie, these exhibitions bring together artists, curators and visitors from regions that are alive with creative responses to the overarching theme of Radical Futures.

Carrolup Artworks

Once Known

Kattidj Nagar

Opened for the first time at the Old Perth Boys’ School, Once Known showcases reproductions of the fragile artworks created by children forcibly taken from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s. This unique Collection of art reminds us that each child had a name, a family and a story. These works stand as a testament to the creativity and resilience of the Carrolup children, offering a glimpse into their enduring connection to Country.

Kattidj Nagãr [Peaceful Quiet Reflection] is a place of connection. A gateway to a third space of shared truth and understanding of our interwoven history. A place where, through the children’s artwork and stories, we acknowledge the strength and resilience of Aboriginal peoples and cultures and walk together to create a more just and equitable world. The space opened in October 2025 with artworks by Barry Loo, Edie Wallam, Keith Indich and Once Known Child Artists, with works by Authur Bropho, Alma Cuttabut, and Parnell Dempster.

Featured Image: Thania Petersen, JAWAP (still), 2025, single channel video with five channel sound. Edition of 10. Courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.

_{Community Engagement Facilitator, John Curtin Gallery, Patricia Ryder and Curator, Carrolup Collection, John Curtin Gallery, Zali Morgan with the Claude Kelly drawing. Image: Sharon Baker.}

An artwork by a child of Australia’s Stolen Generations has been rediscovered in a 25-year old trunk at the Corrigin Pioneer Museum.

Never officially accessioned into the Museum’s collection, the latest piece of Carrolup artwork was drawn by 12-year-old Claude Kelly at Carrolup Native Mission School in 1947. Donated to Corrigin Pioneer Museum by a husband-and-wife from Katanning 25 years ago – the artwork was never officially added to their collection as it fell outside of the collecting scope. Following a collaborative effort between members of the Corrigin Historical Society and John Curtin Gallery staff, the artwork revealed specific details into its history.

A newspaper clipping and graphite pencil primary inscription on the back of the drawing offered insight into the artists name and age as well as the exact date and location the artwork was created. “Picture drawing Claude Kelly aged 12 years at Carrolup Native Mission School for 18 months 21 – 10 – 1947.” The inscription read.

Community Engagement Facilitator, John Curtin Gallery, Patricia Ryder said the inscription not only offers intimate details into the creation of the drawing, but also verifies the rediscovered artwork was created by a Carrolup Child Artist.

“It is important for expert eyes to look over the artworks to ensure the integrity of each Carrolup artwork,” she said.

“Confirmation that this was indeed one of those rediscovered artworks from the group of amazing Carrolup Child Artists created in the 1940s-1950s, is incredibly exciting.”

“Building and sustaining relationships is central to our work with the Carrolup Art Collection. We are thankful to the passionate staff at the Corrigin Museum for reaching out and donating this missing piece of the puzzle.”

Claude Kelly’s piece is the first by the artist to join the other Carrolup artworks at Curtin’s Bentley campus and in the Perth CBD. While hundreds of children were detained at Carrolup, only 17 of the artists have been attributed to artworks in the collection.

Curator, Corrigin Historical Society, Steve Brown-Smith said the Pioneer Museum does occasionally receive donations that are from outside their collecting scope and this drawing is such an example.

“Over the many years we have accepted hundreds of items that are relevant to the theme of our collection, that is to reflect the lives and work of our farming and town community,” he said.

“The picture came to us as a donation about 25 years ago and the curator at the time of the donation died a few years ago so any knowledge that she may have had has gone with her.”

“We never displayed the picture, and it has sat, undisturbed, in an old trunk for most of the last 25 years or so.”

Similarly, the Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artworks was lost overseas for more than 50 years, and rediscovered in New York to then be returned home to Noongar Boodja in 2013.

The Carrolup artworks stand as a testament to the resilience, creativity and enduring connection to Country of the Stolen Generations. John Curtin Gallery’s Once Known exhibition shares meticulous reproductions from the delicate originals, providing greater accessibility to the artworks in the lead up to the opening of the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling at the John Curtin Gallery at �鶹ֱ�� where the original artworks will be on year-round display.

�鶹ֱ�� Once Known:
Opened for the first time at the Old Perth Boys’ School, Once Known showcases reproductions of the fragile artworks created by Aboriginal children forcibly taken from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s. Once Known is made possible through the support of Lotterywest, BHP, Colgate University, City of Perth and over 750 supporters who committed to helping share the truth of the Stolen Generations through their support of the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling.

^{Fantastic Forms. Image Marnie Richardson.}

An exploration of ceramics from the �鶹ֱ�� Art Collection, Dirt Feeling presents works spanning the Collection’s 57-year history and includes several new acquisitions shown at the John Curtin Gallery for the first time. The exhibition showcases the work of nearly 70 artists, including Glenn Barkley, Pippin Drysdale, Josina Pumani and Angela Valamanesh. Curated as a ceramic storytelling experience, Dirt Feeling traces more than sixdecades of practice and celebrates the sensual nature of the medium. This exhibition is an ode to the diverse ceramic practices within Australia and beyond.

John Curtin Gallery Curator Lia McKnight said from beginning to end, ceramic processes require an open responsiveness and ability to cope with or even embrace failure, which in turn breeds humility and an enthusiasm for constant learning.

“Numerous artists represented in Dirt Feeling have had far reaching impact on theirpeers, communities and succeeding generations,” Ms McKnight said

“This field is sustained by a generosity of spirit, which translates into works that collectively offer a cacophonous gift to the senses.”

The third exhibition, Everyday, Myths and Legends, is a showcase of Curtin alumni artworks bringing together stories, experiences and insights into imagined and real worlds. Featuring recent and historical acquisitions, this exhibition highlights the rich diversity of the �鶹ֱ�� Art Collection. Early works by Richard Giblett and Gina Moore are recontextualised alongside new works from emerging artists such as Grace Yong and Mim Kowner, both recently featured in the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Hatched: National Graduate Show 2025.

John Curtin Gallery Director Associate Professor Susanna Castleden said she is looking forward to three unique exhibitions coming together as the Gallery celebrates the Noongar Kambarang season.

“John Curtin Gallery’s Kambarang exhibitions not only put the �鶹ֱ�� Art Collection into a rich new context, but the amazing work of Merric Boyd as well,”Associate Professor Castleden said.

“Each of these exhibitions showcase a diverse range of artistic practices – particularly in ceramics – and highlight the work of some historically significant
�����پ����ٲ�.”

The three exhibitions will be at John Curtin Gallery from October 3 until December 7, 2025. John Curtin Gallery will also present a new selection of Carrolup artworks in its Kattidj Nagãr [Peaceful Quiet Reflection] space, which will reopen in October with reproductions from artists including Barry Loo, Edie Wallam, Keith Indich and Once Known Child Artists, with works by Authur Bropho, Alma Cuttabut, and Parnell Dempster.

Carrolup Collection Curator Zali Morgan said changing the works displayed in the space allows new truths and stories to come up and be shared.

“Whilst grounding the space in the truth of the Stolen Generations stories, we must remember to be respectful of each other’s truths, and the broader truth of Australia,” Ms Morgan said.

Exhibition Details:

• Where: John Curtin Gallery, �鶹ֱ��, 200A, Kent St, Bentley WA
• When: 3 October 2025 – 7 December 2025
• Cost: Free

Fantastic Forms is a Bundanon touring exhibition. This exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians. All works in Dirt Feeling and Everyday, Myths and Legends are courtesy of the �鶹ֱ�� Art Collection. This exhibition is made possible through the support of The Navigators.