Celebration of history and life as Wollongong Art Gallery in July to December 2023 program

Gallery director John Monteleone's prologue said the exhibitions explore personal and cultural experiences that connect us and celebrate the importance of providing a platform for disparate and powerful voices that "represent the diversity of our contemporary community".

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If you've never stepped into the gallery before, some of the highlights include: a collection of art, historical artefacts and audio-visual elements to tell the story of people who helped save persecuted Jews during the Holocaust; the celebration of Illawarra artist Ian Gentle with the added re-imagined studio at the Clifton School of Arts; and the story of a migrant moving to NSW to marry.

From this week, the former Director of Programs for Carriageworks Daniel Mudie Cunningham, will present and eclectic mix of new and old works from his long-standing career as a contemporary Australian artist.

The exhibition tracks thirty years of practice bringing together videos, photographs and previously unexhibited archival material from 1993 to 2023, including the latest iteration of his notable serial work Proud Mary.

Employing impersonation, re-enactment and drag to grasp psychological and socio-political dimensions of queer identity, his deeply personal body of work publicises lived experiences of love, loss and becoming.

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Recently acquired works in the gallery's collection have been curated to reflect past and present encounters of the Illawarra and the coast.

This exhibition includes photographs, ceramics, paintings, prints and installation responding to the beauty of the natural and built environments, with recognition of the rights of First Nations' peoples.

Also included are works rising from the recent bushfire disasters, social experiences of the pandemic and the socio-political landscape of the region.

A curated collection of works from the gallery's collection, showing a diverse and nuanced narrative that speaks to the ongoing resilience of First Nations people withstanding Australia's colonial history of violence, oppression and forced assimilation.

While some works evoke a strong cultural continuity through custodianship and ancestral knowledge, others highlight the loss, displacement and trauma suffered by First Nations people taken from their families or incarcerated.

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Round is an artist-led exhibition by mid-career artists whose practices include painting, sculpture, construction, installation and video, incorporating diverse media, materials and colour.

Expect to see lots of "roundness" - exploring interpretations of circularity, curvature, bending- through exploration of shape, space and colour.

Artists include: Andrew Christofides, Richard Dunn, Lynne Eastaway, Daniel Hollier, Pollyxenia Joannou, Lisa Jones, Stephen Little, Tom Loveday, Hilarie Mais, Dani Marti, Al Munro, Eugenia Raskopoulos and Nuha Saad.

Round highlights the problems, questions and answers of individual art practice, whilst collectively reflecting broader themes and subjects of popular culture, current affairs and global politics.

Celebrating its 28th Anniversary this year, the exhibition showcases 50 artworks by students across NSW before they make their way to their new home at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

It's an initiative to help sick children feel better through the power of art.

Finally the $20,000 FLOW biennial acquisitive competition returns, and is open to artists from around Australia.

The prize aims to encourage innovation and experimentation in watercolour painting, including works on paper in watercolour, acrylic, gouache, pen and ink, and watercolour mixed media.

Entries to the competition are open now, until August 11. Details HERE.

Jacky Redgate is regarded as one of Australia's leading contemporary artists, with a practice extending four decades.

This exhibition showcases new and old works from her career, from 1986 to now, and includes "a new photographic series made for the exhibition using her sculptures Unfolding Solids as props in Mylar mirrors".

Born in London in 1955, Redgate emigrated to Australia in 1967 where her career evolved through the divergent contexts of late modernism, 1970s feminism, minimalism, and conceptual art.

This emotional exhibition tells the inspiring stories of remarkable individuals who stood up to injustice to help save persecuted Jews during the Holocaust of WWII.

Using the stories of these courageous "upstanders", alongside displays of precious historical artefacts and moving audio-visual elements, the exhibition seeks to inspire the audience to be "upstanders" themselves.

Courage to Care is a non-profit organisation working in the field of anti-discrimination education.

Kogabino is mistranslation of Vietnamese English for 'vomit girl'. A recurring motif and adopted character in Nguyen-Long's practice, this somewhat grotesque but uncontrollable bodily reflex becomes a metaphor for trauma and the artist's inquisitive and ongoing negotiation with the messy edges of histories, cultural identity and family values.

Tasmanian-born Nguyen-Long combines her PhD practice-based research, cherished family objects and contemporary artworks in an exhibition that invokes the power to transcend restrictive paradigms. B

Nguyen-Long grew up in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines; as an adult she lived in Australia, China, and Vietnam. Nguyen-Long currently lives and works in Bulli on Dharawal Country.

The Gentle Project celebrates the life and legacy of artist Ian Gentle, who lived and worked in the Illawarra from 1986 - 2009.

It includes major retrospective at Wollongong Art Gallery, as well as an immersive recreation of Ian Gentle's studio at the Clifton School of Arts, a book launch Ian Gentle: The Found Line as well as a documentary film.*

Wollongong Art Gallery works includes prints, sketches, installations, and sculptural works. There will also be works by other artists used to focus on Gentle as a "friend, mentor, and artist colleague".

Gentle at Clifton, re-imagines the studio of Ian Gentle at its original site, transforming the Clifton School of Arts into an experiential "cabinet of curiosities". It will use video and audio recordings, still images, artworks, diaries, memorabilia and found objects to create an interactive and multi-sensory experience that reflects on, and responds to this extraordinary artist.

This exhibition tells the story of Julijana's mother and her journey to Australia as a young proxy bride through "photographic interpretation" by the South Coast photographer.

"Born in Northern Greece she arrived in Australia in 1959 at the age of 20, with nothing but a photograph of the stranger she was to marry," she wrote in the program.

"With only one suitcase to her name and the heavy burden of paving the way for her siblings, this brave young woman began a journey that would test her strength and resilience in ways she never imagined. Her story is not unique - there are countless more who've walked the same challenging path."

Wollongong Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10am - 5pm; weekends 12pm - 4pm Closed Mondays and public holidays. www.wollongongartgallery.com

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