"Until encountering the work of Rieste Andrievski, I'd never seen a building cry," author and historian Joseph Davis said of the artist's new exhibition at Wollongong Art Gallery.

"His buildings are animate - animals almost, and sometimes incomparably sad ones.

"This is an artist with eyes like antennae, responding to every change of the wind, as the haze touches steel and wood and pipe and tin; registering every vibration of the air, every sea change, every southerly buster."

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Davis will chat with Andrievski about his art and practice and the works in his first solo exhibition at the gallery, Pecalba: An Industrial Migrant Landscape, on Wednesday, December 2, at 11am.

It's a free event at Wollongong Art Gallery, although bookings are required - search Eventbrite Wollongong Art Gallery online.

Gallery program director John Monteleone said the exhibition pays homage to the migrants of the Illawarra, who came here in pursuit of a dream of freedom, justice and better lives.

"One can feel and sense the fading echoes of the popular songs and stories that circulated in oral tradition within these communities for decades," Mr Monteleone said.

"One can imagine the patterns of life as people travel to and from work, connect with family and friends and celebrate their lives through their traditions."

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The exhibition will run at the gallery from December 5 until February 28.

For more details, and what else is on at the gallery, visit: www.wollongongartgallery.com