In partnership with National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is pleased to present The Land is Us: Stories, Place and Connection – a new major exhibition that brings together notable artworks from the NGV Collection to offer an expanded consideration of landscape art. This free exhibition will be on display at SAM from 30 March to 1 September 2024.
Through artworks from Australian, First Nations, and international artists, The Land is Us explores our fascination with and our connection to land and place. Curated into a series of rooms, the artworks traverse a number of themes, from the role of the land in shaping personal and national identities, to mythmaking, to the displacement experienced by refugees.
The many artists presented within the exhibition give voice to the diverse experiences that are shared with the landscape. Australian Impressionists Frederick McCubbin and Hans Heysen present the familiar visuals of Australian bushland and the activities of early settlers; contrastingly, Wiradjuri/Ngunnawal artist Brook Andrew and Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie subvert the traditional landscape to re-insert and reaffirm the presence of First Nations people in Australian history. Addressing the changing and sometimes hostile nature of the Australian landscape is artist Patricia Piccinini’s sculptural work The Rescuers; poignant and lifelike, the work confronts the reality of the increasingly severe climate crisis faced by the Australian population.
Melinda Martin, SAM CEO, says of the exhibition:
“It’s a privilege to be presenting significant works from the NGV Collection in a regional setting. It brings important context to the artworks on display and allows regional audiences to not only access these works closer to home, but see them in proximity to the scenery that inspired the artists. We’re excited to again be featuring artwork from Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus at SAM – an artist whose work many will remember from the solo exhibition that launched the 2021 artistic program in our new museum, as well as being the namesake of our major gallery space on SAM’s Level 1. The Land is Us speaks to spectrum of relationships people across Australia have with the land and investigates the complexities of those relationships through the lenses of colonisation, migration, and cultural heritage, amongst others.”
