A major exhibition examining Australia's incarceration crisis and its impact on First Nations people has opened at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Darwin as part of the 2026 Darwin Festival.
IncarcerNation brings together 26 artists working across video, installation, photography, painting, illustration, sound and documentary practice.
The exhibition focuses on lived experience, resistance and community-led approaches to change while examining imprisonment, deaths in custody, state violence and the treatment of Aboriginal children in detention.
It is led by curators Djon Mundine OAM, Don Nawurlany Christophersen, Jo Holder and Petrit Abazi and includes artists from the Northern Territory and across Australia.
Bundjalung man and co-curator Djon Mundine OAM described art as a way for people to recognise their identity and the value of their perspectives.
"Art has the power to free your mind, and to remind you of who you are and that your opinion matters," Mr Mundine said.
Among the featured works is Archie Moore's 'Cairns', which uses two stacks of Hansard volumes representing the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The work examines parliamentary processes and the laws and policies connected to the continuing crisis of First Nations deaths in custody.
The exhibition will also present the first showing outside Sydney of Code Black/Riot by Hoda Afshar, Vernon Ah Kee and Behrouz Boochani.
The four-channel video installation was developed in Far North Queensland through work with Change the Record, Youth Empowered Towards Independence, young people who had been detained and prison guards.
The project invited young people to perform for the camera through movement and gesture on their own terms rather than being documented.
Another featured work is Kulata Tjuta — Wati Kulunypa Tjukurpa by Unrupa Rhonda Dick, Anwar Young and Frank Young, which received an award at the 2017 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
The exhibition also considers the Northern Territory's youth detention system and the continuing consequences of the 2016 Four Corners broadcast "Australia's Shame", which led to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
Participating artists are Hoda Afshar, Vernon Ah Kee, Billiamook, Nick Bland, M. Boko, Behrouz Boochani, Selma Nunay Coulthard, Mathew Dargan, Unrupa Rhonda Dick, Charlie Flannigan, Nicholas Gouldhurst, Jack Green, Zak Grieve, Gary Lee, Chips Mackinolty, Sara Maiorino, Georgie Mattingley, Archie Moore, Sally M Nangala Mulda, Albert Namatjira, Vincent Namatjira, Sandra Saunders, Gordon Syron, Jason Wing, Anwar Young and Frank Young.
IncarcerNation opened Tuesday, 4 August, at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Vimy Lane, Parap.
Opening speakers include artist Gary Lee, NCCA director Petrit Abazi, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency chief executive Ben Grimes and Justice Reform Initiative coordinator Rocket Bretherton.
The exhibition will run from 5 August to 26 September and will be open from 10am to 4pm from Wednesday to Friday and from 8am to 2pm on Saturdays.
The exhibition includes confronting material relating to deaths in custody, self-harm, imprisonment and state violence, as well as images and names of people who have died.
A program of talks and public events will be held throughout the exhibition period, with a publication to be launched later in 2026.
