Four Exhibitions, One Statewide Journey

It’s wonderful to learn about ART ON THE MOVE’s 2027–2029 Touring Program, that’s sending four contemporary art exhibitions across Western Australia on a three‑year tour that will connect regional communities with new work by leading WA artists exploring culture, identity, memory and connection.

The program, announced last Thursday, features work by Western Australian artists and curators Sherry Quiambao, Zali Morgan, Jacky Cheng and Gregory Pryor, and continues the organisation’s nearly 40‑year focus on taking high‑quality visual art beyond metropolitan centres like Fremantle.

As part of the three‑year schedule, the exhibitions will tour from the Goldfields to the South West and other regional locations, presenting themes of culture, identity, memory, ritual and belonging. ART ON THE MOVE says the program aims to deepen access to contemporary art while supporting dialogue between artists and regional audiences.

The exhibitions explore a wide range of perspectives, including migration and material culture, First Nations knowledge, ritual practices and collective resilience. The organisation says the program reflects the breadth of contemporary Western Australian practice and its commitment to statewide cultural participation.

ART ON THE MOVE Director Ricky Arnold said the touring program reinforces the organisation’s long‑held belief that geography should not limit access to contemporary art.

“Each exhibition offers a distinct perspective on identity, culture, community and connection. Touring creates encounters between artists and audiences that might not otherwise happen, and that’s central to our mission,” he said. “For almost 40 years, ART ON THE MOVE has worked to ensure regional communities can experience thought‑provoking contemporary art. This program continues that legacy.”

Minister for Creative Industries Simone McGurk said the Cook Government’s support through the Regional Creative Industries Fund ensures regional communities remain connected to high‑quality cultural experiences.

“ART ON THE MOVE has been vital in bringing visual arts programming to regional and remote communities for decades,” she said. “A dynamic creative industries sector enriches communities, and we want Western Australians to continue accessing high‑quality arts experiences where they live.”

The new touring program sits alongside ART ON THE MOVE’s broader exhibition activity, including the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts boorda yeyi commission Under Waters and the Regional Arts Triennial exhibition Radical Futures.

The tours are supported through the Regional Creative Industries Fund.

Here’s more detail on the program and the touring locations.

Program

Sherry Quiambao, Veiled in a Golden Hue

Boorloo/Perth-based multidisciplinary artist Sherry Quiambao draws on her Filipina heritage and family history to explore memory, migration and the ways material culture shapes identity and belonging. Working across photography, video, sculpture and installation, her practice examines how everyday objects and domestic spaces reflect aspiration, care and intergenerational experience.

In Veiled in a Golden Hue, Quiambao reflects on her mother’s migration from the Philippines to Australia and the pressures surrounding success, belonging and material stability that often accompany the pressures surrounding success, belonging and material stability that can accompany migration. Through photography and video, the exhibition combines portraits, staged still life compositions and symbolic domestic objects to explore consumerism, inheritance and the ways aspiration and material desire shape identity and everyday life.

It’s Always Been Always, curated by Zali Morgan

It’s Always Been Always brings together Blak women artists whose practices celebrate and honour powerful connections to Country, Community and Culture, while asserting Blak sovereignty through contemporary art. The exhibition centres the generational work of nurturing stories, sustaining relationships and holding both tenderness and strength.

Curated by Zali Morgan, the exhibition features works by Amanda Bell, Harriette Bryant, Wendy Hubert, Yabini Kickett, Jazz Money, and Kaylene Whiskey and the Iwantja Young Women’s Film Project Together, the artists explore language, kinship, care, joy, resistance and cultural continuity, highlighting the enduring role of Blak women as custodians, connectors and community leaders.

Jacky Cheng, The Rite of Divination

Kimberley-based artist Jacky Cheng is a Malaysian-born artist of Chinese heritage whose sculptural and installation practice explores ritual, diaspora and cultural transmission through paper, fibre and contemporary craft. Drawing on intergenerational knowledge and cultural traditions, her work investigates how belief systems persist, adapt and travel across time and place.

The Rite of Divination explores ritual, belief and decision-making through the lens of Chinese divination practices. Featuring sculptural works, installations and wall-based forms made from paper, fibre, textile and wood, the exhibition examines how people seek guidance, navigate uncertainty and create meaning through symbolic systems, inviting audiences to reflect on their own beliefs and cultural inheritances.

Gregory Pryor, Huddle

Boorloo/Perth-based artist, writer and academic Gregory Pryor is known for a multidisciplinary practice exploring place, ecology and cross-cultural dialogue. His work is held in major public collections across Australia and often considers the relationship between people, landscape and shared histories.

Huddle features 15 new paintings by Pryor alongside collaborative works developed with Wardandi and Koreng Noongar artist, writer and academic Dr Jennifer Moyle Ogbeide-Ihama. Through painting, installation and mixed media, the exhibition explores vulnerability, collective strength and knowledge sharing, examining how people come together in relationship with Country while reflecting on environmental fragility, colonial histories and storytelling as a decolonising act.

Touring Locations

A number of venues across Western Australia have expressed early interest in hosting exhibitions from the 2027–29 program, including Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Goldfields Arts Centre, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Beverley Station Arts, Cannery Arts Centre, Katanning Art Gallery and Manjimup Art Gallery. The full touring itinerary, including exhibition dates and locations, will be announced as arrangements are confirmed.

Freo folk may well enjoy making it to the regions to see some of these exhibitions.

*By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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