Billy Bain: By the River, a new solo exhibition by Dharug multidisciplinary artist Billy Bain, is part of the Contemporary Projects series - a vital platform for Australian artists displaying new bodies of work, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

By the River brings together surf culture, coastal iconographies and Indigenous storytelling to explore time and humanity's relationship to the waterways of Sydney, particularly the Dyarubbin/Hawkesbury River, which runs through the artist's ancestral homeland.

For Bain, these sites are neither neutral nor empty but layered with histories, cultural presence and continuing significance.

Based in Sydney, Bain is known for his personalised figurative sculptures of Aboriginal people, infused with a grunge aesthetic and shaped by surf culture.

Raised on the Northern Beaches on Garigal land - just down the river from his home Country - he reflects on his ongoing journey of reconnection with Dharug culture, land and waterways, and the history of his Boorooberongal clan.

Across a new body of work spanning sculpture and painting, the exhibition considers how identity is shaped through movement between places - from ocean to river, from past to present.

Billy Bain, 2025, courtesy of the artist. (Image: Max Zappas)

"By the River is a powerful meditation on connection to Country, revealing the deep cultural currents that flow through our waterways," said Art Gallery of New South Wales director Maud Page.

"Our Contemporary Projects series is an exciting opportunity for artists to present new, ambitious works in a state art museum context.

"We're thrilled to show Billy Bain's latest suite of artworks, which marks a bold and thoughtful expansion of his practice."

By the River includes a new suite of five paintings that adopt a more solemn and atmospheric painterly approach, signalling a shift in tone and emotional depth for Bain.

These works trace the artist's journey from saltwater to freshwater and can be read from left to right as a day-long pilgrimage.

The journey begins at sunrise on Avalon Beach with Betungi (oyster) 2026 and concludes at dusk, upstream along the Dyarubbin/Hawkesbury River with Gadjal (smoke) 2026.

The largest work, Dyarubbin (the river) 2026, is a self-portrait of the artist on his Country, expressing a worldview in which everything, self, land and water, is fundamentally interconnected.

Each painting is housed in a recycled timber frame constructed by carpenter Will Badger, a friend of the artist.

Badger routed shapes into the frames to hold ceramic tiles that Bain crafted, capturing the sights and sounds that the artist encountered on his journey to the river.

At the centre of the exhibition is Bain's largest ceramic installation to date, depicting sculpted figures of friends and family.

The figures walk in a procession, over glittering black sand, like the colour found along river's edge. Raised above is a soft-sculpture of the long-finned eel, leading the group from saltwater to freshwater.

The eel was created with Bain's mother, Kathleen Bain, who first taught him to paint, and Kit Wu Bylett. This installation is grounded in a Dharug worldview and way of working, rooted in intergenerational and cross cultural knowledge-sharing and learning through doing.

"'By the River is an exhibition about connection - between people, place, family and water," said Bain.

"Drawing on Dharug stories and my own experiences growing up in Sydney, the works reflect on movement, resilience and belonging, and the enduring relationships that connect communities across Country.

"Dharug culture is inseparable from the history and identity of this city, and I feel a great sense of both privilege and responsibility in contributing to its recognition through my art."

Visitors to the Art After Hours during NAIDOC Week can hear from the artist on Wednesday the 8th of July at 5.30pm when he joins exhibition curator and senior curator of First Nations art Erin Vink in conversation about his exhibition and his practice.

Bain is also the lead artist for the Art Gallery's winter Hive Festival, a free event for kids and families taking place on Saturday, 11th and Sunday, 12th of July 2026.

For the festival, Bain has developed a drop-in workshop, titled Surf's up, encouraging young creatives to make their own surfboard design and take part in a giant 'paddle out' installation to celebrate beach lifestyle and First Nations connection to water.

In a second activity, titled Frame your world, families are encouraged to make their own picture frame with imagery of objects, animals and places that tell a personal story. Full details can be found on the Hive Festival webpage.

This exhibition is part of the Art Gallery's Contemporary Projects series, which highlights the work of artists from NSW and, at times, wider Australia.

Billy Bain: By the River is now open at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in the Contemporary Projects Gallery in Naala Badu until Sunday 8 November 2026. Entry is free.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales gratefully acknowledges the support of Contemporary Projects patrons Andrew and Cathy Cameron.

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