Michael Reid Sydney, 109 Shepherd Street, Sydney (2026)

17/06/2026

NOW OPEN: TAMARA DEAN | ‘Leave only footprints’ | Until 2 August | Manly Art Gallery & Museum

The first and most comprehensive career survey to date for acclaimed Australian contemporary artist TAMARA DEAN is now on view at Manly Art Gallery & Museum. Presented by the Museum of Australian Photography and curated by MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea, ‘Leave only footprints’ spans more than 11 major bodies of work that explore transitional moments in our lives – rites of passage, rituals and motherhood – all grounded by Dean’s desire to be within and to protect nature.

“Tamara Dean captures ethereal images that explore the intrinsic bond between the human body and the natural world,” writes Jackie Andres in a story published this week by US arts title Colossal. “Using bodies to express this relationship, the figures within her compositions do not emerge as prominent subjects of portraiture. Instead, they exist as elements embedded within each scene, often emerging as extensions of surrounding flora.”

“For as long as I can remember, I have yearned to be in nature,” says Dean, who was recently named a finalist in the Blake Prize and the tenth-anniversary edition of the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize. “When I enter a forest, I feel as though I have come home.”

“Dean’s practice transitioned from documentary to conceptual photography after the arrival of her first child,” notes the exhibition text. “It transformed her practice into one that explores the primacy of nature and our connectedness to it and to each other.”

Incorporating scent, photography, installation and video to create an immersive space that engages the sensory spectrum, ‘Leave only footprints’ traces the themes that have woven through Dean’s practice to date, offering a living testament to the evolving vision of one of today’s defining image-makers.

To enquire about available editions of Tamara Dean’s work – including those featured in ‘Leave only footprints’ – please contact [email protected]

Tamara Dean | Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh)

Images courtesy of the artist and Manly Art Gallery & Museum

12/06/2026

YOU’RE INVITED: TAMARA DEAN | ‘Leave only footprints’ | Public Opening TONIGHT, Friday, 12 June | Manly Art Gallery & Museum

The first and most comprehensive career survey to date for acclaimed Australian contemporary artist TAMARA DEAN, ‘Leave only footprints’ opens tonight at Manly Art Gallery & Museum and will be celebrated with a public event from 6–8pm.

Presented by the Museum of Australian Photography and curated by MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea, ‘Leave only footprints’ spans more than 11 major bodies of work that explore transitional moments in our lives – rites of passage, rituals and motherhood – all grounded by Dean’s desire to be within and to protect nature. The exhibition incorporates scent, photography, installation and video to create an immersive space that engages the sensory spectrum.

“For as long as I can remember, I have yearned to be in nature,” says Dean, who is also exhibiting at Liverpool Powerhouse as a finalist in the Blake Prize and has been selected for the Ravenswood Art Prize. “When I enter a forest, I feel as though I have come home.”

From earlier works that set their subjects’ startling beauty amid moody desuetude to more recent forays into the realm of fantasy via luxuriant displays of cascading florals, ‘Leave only footprints’ traces the themes that have woven through Dean’s practice, offering a living testament to the evolving vision of one of today’s defining image-makers.

OPENING CELEBRATION
Tamara Dean | ‘Leave only footprints’
Friday, 12 June, 6–8pm
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
1A West Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095
RSVP: [email protected]

Tamara Dean is represented by Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin and her work is available to explore on our website. To enquire about available editions of her work – including those featured in ‘Leave only footprints’ – please DM or email [email protected]

Tamara Dean | Manly Art Gallery & Museum | Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh)

11/06/2026

A dazzling floral dreamscape by acclaimed Australian artist TAMARA DEAN is the cover star of Aesthetica Magazine’s newly published June/July edition – landing on newsstands in the same week that her touring survey exhibition, Leave Only Footprints, is set to open at Manly Art Gallery and Museum.

“Dean turns the camera upon herself for High Jinks in the Hydrangeas, a series in which the Australian photomedia artist takes on the roles of director, subject and image-maker,” writes Eleanor Sutherland in a 12-page feature on Dean. “In some shots, her body is submerged within massive pink blooms. For others, she clings onto bending branches, seeming to defy gravity.”

Works from the same series – including the image now gracing Aesthetica’s cover – will be on view when Leave Only Footprints opens this Friday, 12 June, commencing with the launch event from 6pm. The first and most comprehensive career survey to date for one of the defining image-makers of her generation, Leave Only Footprints is presented by the Museum of Australian Photography and curated by MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea.

Incorporating scent, installation and video to create a space that engages the sensory spectrum, the exhibition traverses more than 11 key bodies of work that explore transitional moments in our lives – rites of passage, rituals, motherhood – all grounded by Dean’s desire to be within and to protect nature.

“For as long as I can remember, I have yearned to be in nature,” says Dean, who is also exhibiting at Liverpool Powerhouse as a finalist in the Blake Prize and has been selected for the Ravenswood Art Prize. “When I enter a forest, I feel as though I have come home.”

From earlier works that set their subjects’ startling beauty amid moody desuetude to more recent forays into fantasy via lush displays of cascading florals – as seen in Aesthetica – Leave Only Footprints traces the themes that have woven through Dean’s practice and offers a living testament to her evolving vision.

Thank you to . For enquiries, please email [email protected]

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11/06/2026

A towering forest of intricately painted larrakitj by DJIRRIRRA WUNUŊMURRA YUKUWA and MOYURRURRA WUNUŊMURRA will form a stunning centrepiece when the sisters’ joint exhibition opens this weekend at Michael Reid Sydney. Available to preview by request ahead of the official opening, this large-scale presentation connects the distinct yet deeply connected practices of two of the most exciting voices working today at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre at Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land.

While Djirrirra is rightly lauded, with her work shown in numerous presentations at our Eora/Sydney gallery, across Australia and abroad, her return marks the first major showing for her sister, Moyurrurra, who has continued working with the formal Dhaḻwaŋu iconography entrusted to her by the sisters’ father. In tracing their contrasting trajectories, the exhibition reveals a continuum between Yolŋu art’s contemporary and classical modes.

Across a celebrated career that has seen her included in Bundanon’s landmark ‘Miwatj Yolŋu – Sunrise People’ and her work acquired for international collections such as the Kluge-Ruhe in the United States, Djirrirra’s practice has been distinguished by the meeting of two visual languages: the diamond design that refers to freshwater fish traps, and the Yakuwa motif that speaks to her identity.

Her latest body of work finds her experimenting with salvaged metal road signs as a surface – and it proves a natural fit. The weathered ground echoes the undulating rhythms of her floral Yakuwa motif, while gleaming passages of exposed metal match the warm palette of her angular works on board.

While Djirrirra has garnered acclaim on the global stage, Moyurrurra has remained at her homeland at Gängan. “It would be predictable to see one sister as exciting and the other as traditional. But that is not how the work feels,” writes Will Stubbs in the show’s essay. “This is not rote repetition of well trodden themes but classical art at a high point. Her designs are best understood as classical rather than traditional.”

For previews, please email [email protected]

09/06/2026

COMING SOON: NICI CUMPSTON OAM | ‘Water Bodies’ | 3 July–30 August | Kingston Arts Centre

Barkandji artist, curator and educator NICI CUMPSTON OAM is one of six leading creative forces set to coalesce next month at Kingston Arts Centre in Moorabbin with ‘Water Bodies’ – an exhibition of contemporary First Peoples’ works exploring the preciousness of water amid climate change and its impact on Country and culture.

Displayed across the centre’s Outdoor Lightbox Gallery – open at all hours from next Tuesday, 16 June – ‘Attesting II’ comprises a selection of Cumpston’s hand-coloured photographic portraits of trees and significant sites within the backwaters and inland lake systems of the Barka (Murray) River.

“Our Barka is in crisis and every living being along this waterway is suffering,” says Cumpston of one such portrait, ‘Oh my Murray Darling’. “Our river is our livelihood and we rely on it to sustain us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Portraits of our precious trees and waterways are created to give them reverence and to provide an important platform to share stories of Aboriginal occupation and ongoing survival on our land.”

In 2025, Cumpston was named Director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia – an historic appointment that followed her 17 years at the Art Gallery of South Australia, where she was the inaugural Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, oversaw 16 major exhibitions and was the Tarnanthi Festival’s first Artistic Director.

“‘Oh my Murray Darling’ pays tribute to my ancestors who knew how to sustain our environment and to the hope that we can change this dire situation before it is too late,” says Cumpston, whose presence in ‘Water Bodies’ extends from the Outdoor Lightbox Gallery through to Kingston Arts Centre’s internal galleries, where she is joined by Judy Watson, Lisa Waup, Auntie Netty Shaw and more.

‘Water Bodies’ will be celebrated with an opening event on Thursday, 2 July, 6pm. To enquire about available works by Nici Cumpston OAM, please email [email protected]

08/06/2026

THIS WEEK: DJIRRIRRA WUNUŊMURRA YUKUWA & MOYURRURRA WUNUŊMURRA | ‘Classical’ | Opens Thursday, 11 June | Michael Reid Sydney

Opening this week at Michael Reid Sydney, ‘Classical’ brings together the distinct yet deeply connected practices of sisters DJIRRIRRA WUNUŊMURRA YUKUWA and MOYURRURRA WUNUŊMURRA – two major creative forces at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre at Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land.

While Djirrirra is firmly established as one of the most accomplished Yolŋu artists working today, with her work having been shown at our Eora/Sydney gallery and in numerous presentations abroad, her return marks the first significant showing for her sister, Moyurrurra, who has continued working with the formal Dhaḻwaŋu iconography entrusted to her by the sisters’ father. In tracing two artists’ contrasting trajectories, their joint exhibition reveals the continuum between Yolŋu art’s contemporary and classical modes.

Djirrirra’s practice is distinguished by the meeting of two visual languages. The diamond design that flourishes across her works depicts the waters surrounding her homeland and refers to freshwater fish traps, while the Yakuwa motif speaks directly to her identity. Her latest body of work finds her experimenting for the first time with salvaged road signs gleaned on Country – and the surface proves a natural fit. The reclaimed signs’ lightly weathered ground echoes the undulating rhythms of the artist’s flowering Yakuwa motif, while gleaming passages of exposed metal introduce rich amber tones that sit beautifully alongside the peachy ochre palette of her breathtaking diamond-patterned works on vast rhomboid boards.

While Djirrirra has continued to garner acclaim on the global stage, Moyurrurra has remained at the sisters’ homeland at Gängan. It might be tempting to interpret one sister’s work as innovative and the other’s as traditional, but that is not how Moyurrurra’s work feels. This is not rote repetition of well-trodden themes but classical art at a high point, rendered with extraordinary delicacy and intention.

For previews, please email [email protected]

04/06/2026

FINAL WEEK: TIM MAGUIRE | ‘Light Years’ | Until 6 June | Michael Reid Sydney

The first solo exhibition at Michael Reid Sydney by TIM MAGUIRE, ‘Light Years’ is now entering its final days after a glittering run at the gallery. A landmark entry in the decades-spanning career of one of the most important and original voices in Australian art, this expansive constellation of new and historical paintings sees subjects that have loomed large in Maguire’s visual universe revisited, reimagined and realised anew.

In drawing together these deceptively disparate strands, ‘Light Years’ positions luminosity itself as the constant, animating force in Maguire’s ongoing exploration of the shifting tensions between surface and depth, abstraction and illusion.

While reaching back to the artist’s personal iconography, ‘Light Years’ eschews the logic of the retrospective – its imposition of a linear progression from one discrete period to the next – in favour of something fluid, recursive, cumulative and alive. Its collapsing of time hews closer to the plurality, simultaneity and multidirectional flow of ideas at play in the studio, where an artist’s roving curiosity and restless, rigorous experimentation see subjects surface, recede, overlap and reconfigure.

Working between Sydney and Mondenard, France, Maguire is globally celebrated for his cinematic, large-scale paintings that pull the viewer into a heightened field of looking. Applying the tricolour separation of printmaking to the lush materiality of oil on linen, he constructs his images from discrete, translucent, solvent-splashed layers that allow the whiteness of the ground to illuminate the surface from within.

“There’s a play between the illusion of the image and the physicality of the paint,” says Maguire. “The ideal painting for me is one where, up close, you see nothing but paint and process and layers, and then, from far enough away, the whole thing resolves into a convincing illusion.”

Michael Reid Sydney is open this Saturday from 11am to 3pm. For enquiries, please email [email protected]

03/06/2026

Ahead of the announcement of STEPHANIE TABRAM’s representation by Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin, the gallery team visited the artist at her studio in New Norfolk, on the banks of the River Derwent in southeast Tasmania.

“It has become a daily meditation: observing the minutiae, the subtle changes, the passing seasons and the life and flow of the river itself,” says Tabram in our newly published profile. “After this time of reflection, I clock on – time in my studio is another day spent exploring what paint can do.”

Across a practice spanning more than three decades, Tabram has honed a singular approach to painting that reconciles the traditions of realism with the deeply felt, experiential understanding of place she describes above.

At once expansive and intricately detailed, her compositions unfold as complex visual fields in which light, atmosphere and texture are held in dynamic equilibrium. Sunlit foliage, silvery waterways and the brooding, gothic drama of Tasmanian skies are rendered through a meticulous process of layering in acrylic, built gradually with fine strokes into images that feel less like static views than cumulative stories.

Tabram deftly distils the simultaneity at play within the landscape – the way the day’s last light might momentarily set native grasses gilt-edged and aglow, even as roiling clouds gather above distant blue-grey ridgelines; the faceted interplay of steep escarpments and sprawling pastoral plains, carved with shadows and compressed into an arresting pictorial plane; the glittering blaze of autumn foliage or weeping, wintry trees doubled and transformed in the river’s cool reflections.

The result is a dazzling tapestry of place, where multiple temporal and atmospheric experiences are suspended on canvas and coalesce into one complete and richly absorbing scene. “The river carries this country’s DNA,” says Tabram in our profile – link in bio.

To sign up for first access to the artist’s forthcoming projects, including her first solo exhibition with the gallery, slated for next year, please email [email protected]

Portraits by Rosie Hastie |

01/06/2026

Congratulations to PETRINA HICKS, who has been named a finalist in the 2026 Abbotsleigh Grace Cossington Smith Art Award for her 2025 work ‘Mnemosyne VIII’.

First presented by Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin at Sydney Contemporary 2025 – with remaining editions of the work available by request – ‘Mnemosyne VIII’ will be on view at Abbotsleigh’s Grace Cossington Smith Gallery when the exhibition of finalists opens on Saturday, 18 July, ahead of the awards announcement on 22 July.

“In ‘Mnemosyne VIII’, the relationship between human and fish is not depicted as hierarchical or separate,” says Hicks, who instead evokes a quiet coexistence and a sense of shared consciousness – ideas that resonate with the theme of the awards program: ‘Making Connections’. “The title, referencing the Greek goddess of memory, deepens this connection by implying the bond between humans and animals is not only physical but embedded in a collective or ancestral memory.”

Selected as a finalist by MCA curator Anna Davis and Artbank’s Barry Keldoulis, the artist says her work encourages a reconsideration of human identity, suggesting that “our connection to the animal world is not distant or separate, but intimate, enduring, and deeply embedded within who we are.”

Across a career spanning more than two decades, Hicks has honed her singular style and cemented her place at the forefront of her field. The news of her latest shortlisting comes in the same week that an edition of an earlier work – the seminal ‘Shenae and Jade’, 2005, also presenting a striking encounter between human and animal subjects – achieved a landmark result at auction.

The subject of several institutional surveys, her works are lensed with a heightened, almost hyperreal precision, subverting the coolly seductive language of advertising while drawing motifs from classical myth, folklore and art history. With ‘Mnemosyne VIII’, Hicks suggests that beneath the surface of a highly controlled human identity lies an instinctual core that connects us to the animal world.

For enquiries, please email [email protected]
hicks

Michael Reid Sydney

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