On display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir brings together Albert's work across sculpture, photography, installation, painting, and assemblage alongside major new commissions.
The exhibition, which opened May 21 can closes October 19, takes inspiration from the MCA's location on Sydney Harbour at Tallawoladah and the surrounding precinct, The Rocks, a profoundly significant site of early colonial contact, now synonymous with tourism and souvenir culture.
It examines the commodification and misrepresentation of Aboriginal people and culture, both historically and today, while celebrating survival and cultural pride.
Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir is guest-curated by renowned Indigenous curator Bruce Johnson McLean (Wierdi / Wiri people) and has been developed in close collaboration with the artist.
Albert, a Girramay, Yidinji and Kuku-Yalanji man, has been hailed as "one of Australia's great living artists" by Suzanne Cotter, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
To celebrate the exhibition and assist visitors in understanding Albert's work, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is now offering guided tours.
The next tour is set to take place on Thursday September 17 from 6pm to 6:30pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, in Sydney.
The tour guide will discuss how Albert challenges the misrepresentation of Aboriginal peoples and cultures while celebrating strength, survival and pride.
Installation view, Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2026, works © the artist. (Image: Ravyna Jassani)
Albert is one of Australia's most fearless and influential contemporary artists. His dynamic practice includes sculpture, photography, installation, painting and assemblage.
Grounded in a longstanding practice of collecting found material, Albert reclaims popular images of Aboriginal Australia with wit, beauty and force. His assemblages of 'Aboriginalia' transform the visual language of colonisation, turning objects of prejudice into symbols of resistance, resilience and pride.
Nationally recognised as a leading ambassador of First Nations art and culture, Albert has exhibited widely over the past two decades and has been commissioned by the Australian War Memorial, City of Sydney, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Allianz Stadium and Public Art Fund, US.
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