The Carousel of Invisibility: Julie Visible
5 June to 2 August 2025
âThe Carousel of Invisibilityâ is an evocative interpretation across the life of the female bushranger Jessie Hickman. Seeking to unearth and reveal the elusive Hickman, visual artist Julie Visible (aka Julie Williams) ventures into isolated bushland along the fringes of the Wollemi region, where she encounters traces and murmurs of Hickmanâs life. This body of work is a reflection upon human inhabitation, identity and the invisible history of women.
Visible messes with linear time by deconstructing and reassembling analogue photography, digital video, smatterings of AI, sounds from the bush and found objects retrieved from the ground. The layered imagery within her painterly, photo-media works imbues a subtle sense of unreality. Natural objects, people, horses and a baby become symbols; depicting fragments and impressions of the lightness and darkness of the lingering apparitions within the bushland frequented by Hickman in the early 1900s.
Visible passes over the contradictory and disjointed narratives that abound around Hickmanâs life, in favour of a light filled transcendence of flight and movement. It is here that Julie Visible and Jessie Hickman fall together in time, enabling the spirit of place to slowly and quietly endow their stories with imagination within a regional contemporary arts framework.
Julie Visible, âBushland Intimacyâ 2025 (video still), HD 16:9 Video 12:25 mins, silent, Edition of 8.
Women on Country
5 June to 11 October 2025
Michelle Earl â Wonnarua/Darkinjung | Judith Franklin â Darkinjung/Wonnarua | Robyn Hutchinson â Wiradjuri | Lesley Salem â Wonnarua | | Mandy Wild â Biripi/Worimi
For Aboriginal people, Country is not simply landâit encompasses everything: animals, plants, waterways, landforms, and skies. This relationship is spiritual, cultural, and physical, rooted in deep, ancient systems of knowledge and belonging. Despite the enduring trauma of colonisation and forced removal, connection to Country remains strong.
Country is central to identity and community, linking individuals to their ancestors, to cultural learning, to language, and to law. It provides a foundation for spiritual wellbeing and imposes a sacred responsibility to care for the land for future generations.
The Dreamingâstories passed through generationsâexplains the spiritual origins of the land and informs Aboriginal peopleâs relationship with it. Totems create networks of responsibility and kinship through animals, features, and elements of Country. While often overlooked, even urban environments are part of Country. Through art, activism, and language, these connections can be revitalised and made visible.
Country is not a possession, it is a living entityâa source of knowledge, spirit, and life.
Mandy Wild, âWayila Bularr Wukalâ 2025, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40cm.
Art Tracks VIII: Boundless Boundaries
27 March to 2 August 2025
For decades, artists have explored the delicate interplay between exposure and isolation, visibility and solitude. Long before the digital age, the struggle between wanting to be seen and the fear of being truly known has shaped the human experience.
This exhibition brings together past winners and finalists of the Muswellbrook Art Prize, spanning works from the 1970s to today. From Strom Gouldâs exploration of public anonymity in âPedestriansâ (1970) to David Fairbairnâs intimate pandemic-era portraits âDouble Livesâ (2022), âBoundless Boundariesâ reveals how artists have continually grappled with themes of vulnerability, detachment, and the complexities of human interaction.
Whether responding to urbanisation, social change, or digital transformation, each work contributes to an ongoing dialogue about presence and absence. The act of self-representationâthrough portraiture, abstraction, or symbolic imageryâexposes the paradox of being both connected and alone.
Strom Gould, ‘Pedestrians’ 1970, watercolour on paper, 50 x 70cm, Muswellbrook Shire Art Collection, Winner, Muswellbrook Art Prize 1970, Open Drawing Section.
Beyond Words: Challenge Disability Services
27 March to 2 August 2025
Art provides a unique and accessible means to convey emotions, ideas, and personal stories without the need for words. This can be particularly empowering for people living with a disability, enabling them to communicate authentically while fostering self-awareness and confidence. This exhibition, featuring work from Challenge Disability Services, highlights how art creates a more inclusive environment where every voice is heard and valued, promoting community and connection.