Art Gallery of New South Wales launches new First Nations series

Phoebe Blogg Published October 12, 2026 at 5.00pm (AWST)

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(Image: Installation view the Billy Bain: By the River exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring work by Billy Bain Wirambi (Fruit bat) 2026, collection of the artist © Billy Bain. )

Taking place every Saturday across October 17-31, the Art Gallery of New South Wales will host a three-part series where guests will hear from Australian-based First Nations artists and gain an understanding of local and global Indigenous visual art histories.

Erin Vink, senior curator of First Nations art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, will be in conversation with artists Billy Bain, Daniel Boyd, Sonya Holowell, Adriana Lear, Danie Mellor, Rolande Souliere, Salote Tawale and Thea Anamara Perkins.

Since 2023, the Art Gallery has focused on presenting its First Nations collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in dialogue with international Indigenous artists.

From Sydney to Samoa and stretching as far as Kinngait/Cape Dorset off the southwest tip of Nunavut, Canada, artists in the collection and exhibition program are united by shared understandings of Indigeneity and contemporary art-making.

*Installation view of 'Billy Bain: By the River' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, artworks © Billy Bain. (Image: Art Gallery of New South Wales)*

Speaking on his recent solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Bain thanked the entire AGNSW team, and the curators involved.

"A huge thank you to the many hands and hearts that helped bring this project to life. This is my first solo exhibition in four and a half years, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have this platform to share a body of work shaped through collaboration with my family and friends," he said.

"As the first Dharug artist to present a solo exhibition at the gallery in its 155-year history, I feel both pride and responsibility in representing my family and my Dharug people; the first peoples of Sydney.

"Making work alongside my mum Kath for this exhibition has been especially meaningful. Together, this project is one small step towards rewriting a story shaped by shame, dispossession and disconnection into one of pride, resilience and joy."

"Thank you to the entire AGNSW team, and especially to curators @erin.vink and @kiequintal for believing in this project and helping a little surf rat's wildest dreams come true."