First Nations artists will feature strongly in the National Gallery of Australia's Full Throttle, an exhibition exploring the art and culture of one of the most potent and persistent symbols of the modern era, the automobile.

Announced this week and bringing together more than 200 works from over 60 artists and collectives, Full Throttle will open at the National Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra on December 5, running until April 11 next year.

Fuelled by the legacy of the film Mad Max, Full Throttle presents the car as a lens through which to examine contemporary life.

Featuring works in a range of medium including sculpture, painting, installation, textiles, video and works on paper, Full Throttle showcases leading First Nations, Australian and international artists who have examined the myths, meanings and cultural power of the car.

It includes significant new acquisitions and commissions, key works from the national collection, and major loans from public and private collections across Australia and internationally.

New and commissioned works include a special montage of Mad Max by its creator George Miller, a large-scale beach carpark tableau by Dharug artist Billy Bain featuring a ute fabricated in recycled timber accompanied by ceramic figures, a video work by Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg mining cinematic imagery to explore and critique representation, stereotypes and cultural mythologies, and a monumental woven Toyota Hilux created by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers.

With over 15 First Nations artists featured in the exhibition, Indigenous culture and craft will be in the spotlight.

First Nations artists featured in Full Throttle include Bain, Moffatt, Hayley Panangka Coulthard (Western Aranda people), Pulpurru Davies (Ngaanyatjarra people), Irene Mbitjana Entata (Western Arrarnta / Luritja peoples), Robert Fielding (Western Arrernte / Yankunytjatjara peoples), Hermannsburg Potters, Mavis Holmes Petyarre (Anmatyerre people), Rhonda Holmes Pwerle (Anmatyerre people), Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles (Pintupi / Ngaanyatjarra peoples), Trevor Nickolls (Ngarrindjeri people), Ada Bird Petyarre (Anmatyerre people), Reko Rennie (Kamilaroi / Gamilaraay / Gummaroi peoples), Andrea Pungarta Rontji (Western Aranda people), Rona Panangka Rubuntja (Western Aranda people, Auslan and Western Aranda Sign Language), Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Gaypalani Waṉambi (Marrakulu peoples), Mrs Kumana (Ngipi) Ward (Ngaantjatjarra people), Jordan Wolfson (Gumatj people), Kunmanara (Desmond) Woodforde (Pitjantjatjara / Yankunytjatjara peoples), Wanapati Yunupingu (Gumatj people) and Kaylene Whiskey (Yankunytjatjara people).

In a newly created painting by Kaylene Whiskey, the exhibition comes full circle. Overlaying her iconic candy-coloured palette and comic-book style onto a vintage Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome billboard poster, Whiskey creates a vibrant world of connection, humour and cultural continuity.

Full Throttle is curated by National Gallery Director Nick Mitzevich and Associate Curator, Asian & Pacific Art Beatrice Thompson.

The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, special public programs, a podcast, a four-part film series and an interactive engagement space designed by exhibiting artists Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan.

"The Full Throttle exhibition examines the automobile as one of the defining symbols of the modern era," Mitzevich said.

"It brings together the work of over 60 artists who challenge, celebrate and interrogate the car in equal measure, offering new ways of thinking about its influence on culture, society and our collective imagination. We are thrilled to share this free exhibition over summer with our audiences."

Ms Thompson said Full Throttle presents a diverse range of artistic responses.

"Full Throttle presents a diverse range of artistic responses to the automobile, revealing it as a connector and divider, a saviour and destroyer, a practical object and a powerful cultural metaphor," she said.

"From suburban realism to post-apocalyptic fantasy, the works invite visitors to reconsider the profound influence of cars on contemporary life."

The Full Throttle publication examines how artists across mediums and generations have used the automobile as both subject and metaphor to explore ideas around power, identity, consumption and connection.

Full Throttle is a free major exhibition at the National Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra on display from 5 December 2026 - 11 April 2027.

For more fashion, arts, culture and lifestyle news subscribe for free to the Style Up newsletter.