The University of Queensland Art Museum
2025 Year in Review
The University of Queensland (UQ) acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which UQ operates.
We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
Message from the Director
Earlier this year, UQ’s news team interviewed me about our work, and I spoke of the progressive model established by our first Director Honorary Professor Nancy Underhill (who also founded and led UQ’s Department of Art History). She envisioned UQ Art Museum as a ‘lab’ fostering connections between teaching and learning and the Museum. Professor Underhill emphasised the value of allowing students to immerse themselves in both theory and practice. This model set the tone for the museum that we continue to advocate for today: a site for critical practice and experimentation with students and learning at the core.
I have been reflecting deeply on our history as we approach 2026, when we will mark 50 years of UQ Art Museum. The experimentation and innovation embedded in our foundations continues to drive us, and as a university art museum we are empowered to test the boundaries of museum practice and work with artists to inspire new perspectives on the latest research and important global issues.
This year’s program highlighted the impacts of plastics on human health and our entangled present. We also presented First Nations’ perspectives on the climate emergency and water protection, explored histories of collective action and community building, and celebrated 50 years of Papua New Guinean independence. We heard deeply personal reflections from artists and curators on belonging, histories, and futures. We joined with our UQ Arts partners to create the inaugural “UQ Arts Block Party” which included a unique choreographed performance work by Alicia Frankovich, co-commissioned with ACCA (Naarm/Melbourne) and supported by Creative Australia. We brought the Mayne Hall Pipe Organ to life through a partnership with the School of Music and an immersive experimental performance by Robert Curgenven as part of Brisbane Festival. We shared our innovative visitor engagement model with colleagues including Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art for their kith and kin exhibition, enhancing visitor experience of this important artwork by Archie Moore.
UQ Art Museum has been and continues to be a place that inspires, leads, educates, and connects. At the end of this year we leave our current home in Mayne Hall so that it can be restored to its original purpose as a performance and graduation hall. UQ is constructing purpose-built museum spaces for us in Forgan Smith Tower, set to open in 2027. It is the place where it all began for us almost 50 years ago, where a museum was imagined, space was carved out for experimentation with art, and links were forged with partners on campus and in the community. I am proud to continue that work today and on behalf of our incredible team I look forward to connecting with you at the events and programs we will be sharing throughout 2026. It will be a year of laying foundations and doing the groundwork necessary for the next 50 years of UQ Art Museum.
– Director, Peta Rake
Exhibitions
Our exhibitions this year explored connections between humans and our environments, and the ways in which we shape and are shaped by the world around us.
Semester 1 : These Entanglements: Ecology After Nature
Our first exhibition of the year echoed research happening across UQ into plastics, the climate crisis, and human health. It was guest curated by Anna Briers, Senior Curator Len Lye and Contemporary Art at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, Aotearoa New Zealand, and brought together Australian and international artists whose works traverse forms such as choreography, sculptural installation, filmmaking, field research, tarot reading, photography, painting, and virtual simulation. Drawing on cross-disciplinary discourses, the exhibition explored theories of deep ecology, new materialism, and posthumanism, and is indebted to embodied knowledges and First Nations’ kinship systems.
Semester 2: to come together as water, NORTHERN WATERS, WE CALL YOU! Sisters! Mothers! Workers! , and SUNA (Middle Ground)
In Semester 2, we hosted four exhibitions, each with a distinct focus but all united by an emphasis on community and connection. In to come together as water, cultural and creative practices were brought together as an expansive reimagining of water protection. Artists included Solomon Booth, Nici Cumpston, Megan Cope, Heather Koowootha, Napuwarri Marawili, Jimmy John Thaiday and Keiran James, Jilamara Arts, Numbulwar Numburindi Arts, Brian Robinson and Lucy Simpson. This was the final exhibition presented as part of the long-term research initiative Blue Assembly, which called attention to the ways in which oceanic spaces are inextricable to the survival of all species.
NORTHERN WATERS was an experimental video installation by Rachel O'Reilly that explored the aftermath of the 1960s "Save the Reef" campaign. Featuring contemporary interviews with First Nations artists, activists, and scientists and revisiting the video archives of past campaigns, the film was the culmination of a multi-year regional research residency undertaken by O’Reilly through UQ Art Museum’s partnership with the JCU Blue Humanities Lab. A major outcome of the residency was an intensive workshop called Northern Conditions, Planetary Practices (2023) which brought together regional arts workers and environmentalists on Djiru Country (Bingil Bay), some of whom are in the film.
We also hosted the first Australian solo exhibition of works by international artist Petra Bauer, in an exhibition curated by PhD student Benison Kilby. WE CALL YOU! Sisters! Mothers! Workers! brought together three films from her series Looking for Jeanne, made with a number of international collaborators: feminist organisations Southall Black Sisters and SCOT-PEP, filmmaker Marius Dybwad Brandrud, activist Carolina Sinisalo, curator Frances Stacey, and producer Marta Dauliūtė. We also hosted Bauer as the Daphne Mayo scholar for 2025, faciliating a public lecture and a workshop as part of her visit to Australia.
Exhibitions on tour
The national tour of OCCURRENT AFFAIR: proppaNOW wrapped up three years of touring across Australia at its final destination at Lismore Regional Gallery. In partnership with Museums and Galleries of New South Wales with funding from Visions Australia and Create New South Wales, the exhibition has toured across Australia to seven cultural intuitions. The accompanying exhibition catalogue, published by UQ Art Museum, was distributed at all touring venues and to a wide audience.
Public Art
A major drawcard on campus in Semester 2 was the temporary installation SUNA (Middle Ground). Yuriyal Bridgeman’s monumental installation is a beacon for storytelling, idea-sharing, and connection that was installed on the front lawn of UQ Art Museum throughout Semester 2, 2025.
The artwork brought a traditional Papua New Guinea Highlands round house (raun haus) to the heart of the busy UQ St Lucia campus. The artwork is a replica of the artist’s home in PNG, which is also the home of Bridgeman’s extended family, the Yuri Alaiku tribe, and his renowned practice in the Waghi Valley, PNG, where it serves as the meeting point for the Haus Yuriyal collective. More than just their studio, the raun haus is a safe place to gather in times of tribal warfare, as well as to share and exchange cultural knowledge through artmaking.
Audiences were invited by the artist to step into SUNA (Middle Ground) in the spirit of original as an action to connect, share, and exchange, to overcome difference and create pathways of deeper understanding of one another.
The University of Queensland Art Collection
The University of Queensland Art Collection is one of Queensland’s most significant public art collections. More than 500 artworks are currently displayed across UQ campuses.
This includes an extensive new series of displays in the Central Library at UQ St Lucia. We partnered with the team there to create a series of displays that enrich this busy space of learning, reflection, and discovery.
UQ Art Collection on loan
In addition to being displayed across UQ campuses, the UQ Art Collection is loaned to institutions around Australia to share with their visitors and support storytelling, education, and enjoyment of art.
In 2025, works from our collection were shared with Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, Redland Art Gallery, HOTA (Gold Coast, QLD), Court House Gallery (Cairns, QLD), Museum of Brisbane, State Library of Queensland, and Bunjil Place Gallery (Casey, VIC).
Teaching and learning
Thousands of students visited UQ Art Museum with their classes throughout 2025. From disciplines including Gender Studies, Archaeology, Biomedical Sciences, Political Science, UQ's academic staff drew on our exhibitions and the UQ Art Collection to enhance their teaching and learning and spark new ideas and perspectives in their students.
First year architecture students visited the public artwork "SUNA (Middle Ground)" as part of a campus tour of architectural features. Students in their first year of Physiotherapy were inspired to consider critical thinking about cultural experiences, building their skills in working with diverse patients. Advanced Spanish students enjoyed an exhibition tour in English, and then practiced their Spanish skills through conversations about the artworks. For Marine Science students, the "to come together as water" exhibition was an important tool through which to consider First Nations perspectives on water protection.
Student experience and training
Our philanthropically funded internships allow students to be paid to learn industry skills in a rich and supportive environment.
Braelyn Rolfe Chase continued her curatorial internship with Curator Freja Carmichael, supported by Blaklash. In 2025, she worked with another intern, Ava Murdoch, to develop and deliver walking tours of art on campus for NAIDOC Week, highlighting some of the powerful artworks displayed around UQ St Lucia by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
Ava Murdoch, in addition to working with Braelyn on the tour, worked with Engagement Producer Anna Hickey to develop and run events including this year’s “Wear it Purple Day” celebration with artist Tony Albert, who was interviewed by fellow artist Keemon Williams. Ava’s internship was supported through a generous bequest by Paula and Tony Kinnane.
"As an art history student at UQ, we are incredibly lucky to be situated alongside an arts institution that values students and provides hands-on work experience."
Mae Stanton, also supported by the Kinnane Bequest, worked with our Education Producer Logan Bobongie to research and deliver public programs and education initiatives. She wrote about her experience as a UQ Art Museum intern, and noted that working on an event with Aunty Sana Balai and Assistant Curator Jocelyn Flynn was a special highlight of her internship.
Grace Dahl, supported by the Ashby Utting Foundation, worked alongside Engagement and Partnerships Manager Dr Alex Tuite to plan and publish a range of marketing and communications content supporting exhibitions and programs, from social media posts to producing videos and writing website stories.
National leader in visitor engagement
Our cultural mediation practice continues to resonate deeply within the museums and galleries sector and we were invited to deliver training for QAGOMA for the Archie Moore exhibition kith and kin. This training drew on our experience training the invigilators for the Australia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, where Moore's exhibition won the "Golden Lion" award for Best National Participation.
We are honoured to have been invited to once more partner with Creative Australia to deliver cultural mediation training for the staff of the 2026 Australia Pavilion. This is a moving recognition of the power of thoughtful, meaningful visitor engagement to foster a richer engagement with art, and in doing so to inspire joy, reflection, empathy, and a sense of connection and belonging.
In December, our Engagement Producer Dr Anna Hickey presented a paper at the 2025 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand conference. The paper shared our approach to visitor engagement through cultural mediation, and explored a gap in current research related to equipping museum staff with skills to balance artists and their intentions alongside visitors.
Swedish artist Petra Bauer speaks with Mediators during an exhibition training day.
Swedish artist Petra Bauer speaks with Mediators during an exhibition training day.
Mediators are trained to engage visitors in conversation that enriches their experience of art.
Mediators are trained to engage visitors in conversation that enriches their experience of art.
Events and programs
2025 was jam-packed with a range of programs and events. We hosted artists including Solomon Booth, Megan Cope, Lucy Simpson, Michelle Woody, Colin Puruntatameri, Rachel O’Reilly, Norton Fredericks, Alicia Frankovich and Caitlin Franzmann.
International artist Petra Bauer, whose work was featured in the Semester 2 exhibition WE CALL YOU! Sisters! Mothers! Workers!, visited UQ to deliver the 2025 Daphne Mayo Lecture as well as a workshop on the power of listening and storytelling.
Tony Albert – interviewed by Keemon Williams – joined us for Wear it Purple Day, and spoke about his perspective and practice as a queer Girramay, Yidinji, and Kuku-Yalanji man. He also led a beading workshop for UQ students, inspired by his 'You Wreck Me’ rosaries and designed to be a proud and fun-to-wear beaded accessory supporting students to express their hopes, desires and protests for the future.
Our friends at the UQ School of Music joined us several times throughout the year to compose and perform music linked with our exhibitions, and also to make use of the Mayne Hall Pipe Organ. Our wider Arts colleagues also joined us for the inaugural “UQ Arts Block Party”, bringing together UQ’s museums and the Fryer Library for talks, workshops, exhibitions and tours.
In September, students, staff, and the local community were invited to join us for a day of free events and celebrations marking 50 years of Papua New Guinean independence. Visitors could explore artist Yuriyal Bridgeman’s large-scale installation SUNA (Middle Ground), enjoy PNG food, and join talks and singsings (dance and music performances).
And finally, we also shared perspective from within our own team, with Aunty Sana Balai – whose work is funded by Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser AM – joining our Acting Curator Jocelyn Flynn to discuss the significant role Elders hold in passing down knowledge to the next generation.
Visitors at a drop-in drawing workshop held as part of the inaugural UQ Arts Block Party. Photos: Joe Ruckli.
Visitors at a drop-in drawing workshop held as part of the inaugural UQ Arts Block Party. Photos: Joe Ruckli.
Artist Tony Albert teaches visitors to make beaded rosaries inspired by his work as part of a "Wear it Purple Day" program. Photo: Claudia Baxter.
Artist Tony Albert teaches visitors to make beaded rosaries inspired by his work as part of a "Wear it Purple Day" program. Photo: Claudia Baxter.
John Gerrard, "Flare (Oceania)", 2022. Custom 33” slim line screen with gunmetal frame, edition 5/5 + 3 AP. Installation view, ""These Entanglements: Ecology After Nature", UQ Art Museum, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
John Gerrard, "Flare (Oceania)", 2022. Custom 33” slim line screen with gunmetal frame, edition 5/5 + 3 AP. Installation view, ""These Entanglements: Ecology After Nature", UQ Art Museum, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Philanthropy and partnerships
Our generous and close-knit community of donors supports every aspect of our work, from the acquisition of artworks to public programs to training the next generation of museum professionals.
We were deeply grateful for the ongoing support of Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser AM, whose gift has supported the work of Bougainville Elder Sana Balai. We are also grateful to the Ashby Utting Foundation and to Blaklash for their ongoing support of our student training program, instilling a lifelong love of art and building practical museum skills in talented UQ students.
Several extraordinary artworks were added to the UQ Art Collection in 2025 thanks to the generosity of our donor community. They will be important tools for teaching and learning for generations to come, as well as important artworks for the wider community to view, experience and enjoy. We look forward to sharing them with you following the completion of our building relocation.
We appreciate and value every single gift: each is much-needed and gratefully received. Our donor community encourages and inspires us in our work and actively shapes the University's cultural life. Thank you for your support this year, and we look forward to continuing to partner with you in 2025 and beyond.
Donate
We are deeply grateful to the community of supporters who are helping us build a world-class university art museum. In this place, art inspires and encourages us to question and challenge our place in the world.
Your generous donations contribute to a dynamic art museum program, to a skilled future workforce and Australia’s cultural heritage. Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible and can be directed to your area of passion.
To contribute to the UQ Art Museum, complete a donation form, or contact the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Advancement Office:
Fiona Beavis
Senior Manager, Advancement and Community Engagement
E f.beavis@uq.edu.au
T 0404 373 224
Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar Sana Balai. Sana's research is supported by Cathryn Mittelheuser AM. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar Sana Balai. Sana's research is supported by Cathryn Mittelheuser AM. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Student intern Ava Murdoch with her mentor, UQAM Engagement Producer Dr Anna Hickey.
Student intern Ava Murdoch with her mentor, UQAM Engagement Producer Dr Anna Hickey.
Visitors attend the SUNA TOK TOK event in September, held as part of Brisbane Festival. Photo: Lewis James.
Visitors attend the SUNA TOK TOK event in September, held as part of Brisbane Festival. Photo: Lewis James.
Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar Aunty Sana Balai with Acting Curator Jocelyn Flynn. Photo: Claudia Baxter.
Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar Aunty Sana Balai with Acting Curator Jocelyn Flynn. Photo: Claudia Baxter.
Visitors view an exhibition curated by a UQ PhD student. Photo: Claudia Baxter
Visitors view an exhibition curated by a UQ PhD student. Photo: Claudia Baxter
groundwork: honouring five decades of art, artists, education and community in 2026
groundwork is the necessary preparation for a future task. Marking our 50th anniversary, and coincident with the envisioning of a new purpose-built space opening in 2027, groundwork reflects on all facets of the museum: its site and form, its processes, its ethic and its creative program. groundwork asks us to locate ourselves on Country, and in place; to acknowledge our past and to imagine our future, and to gather and contemplate our material and relational responsibilities to one another.
Through dialogic and convivial gatherings, groundwork attends to contexts largely unimaginable for art museums and their communities 50 years ago, grappling with networked technologies and climate crises alongside massive shifts in social ideas about inclusion, representation, equity and justice.
We celebrate this milestone by embracing a responsive program across our campuses and our region. groundwork is a prologue and invitation to UQ Art Museum’s next chapter. In deep collaboration and celebration with campus and community, we will host conversations, workshops, pop-ups, masterclasses, events, live performances, training and professional development, opening spaces for thinking, sharing and learning together.
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