Skip to main content
Menu
What's on Prizes The Portraits Watch
The Gallery Governance & Board Circle of Friends
Learn Access Search the website
close close
What's on The Portraits The Gallery Learn Watch More O

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Joan Ross

Those trees came back to me in my dreams

Previous exhibition
from Saturday 24 August 2024 until Sunday 27 April 2025
Those trees came back to me in my dreams
Those trees came back to me in my dreams, 2024 Joan Ross. Collection of N.Smith, Gadigal Country / Sydney

Joan Ross: Those trees came back to me in my dreams is a vibrant and dynamic exhibition by acclaimed contemporary artist Joan Ross. In a practice that spans collage, printmaking, sculpture and video animation, Ross probes the ongoing consequences of colonisation in Australia with wit and wry critique. Transforming scenes from colonial artworks through a digital ‘cut and paste’ technique and her signature fluorescent yellow, Ross explores critical issues like climate change, greed and consumerism.

M'lady Ikebana, 2015 Joan Ross
Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster
1 M'lady Ikebana, 2015 Joan Ross. Courtesy of the artist. 2 Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780 Jean Francois Rigaud.

For this exhibition, Ross was invited to select portraits from the National Portrait Gallery collection and situate them alongside her own artworks. The result considers how colonial artworks are contextualised within cultural institutions and asks us to question stories within the archives of history.

The show was curated collaboratively by Joan Ross, Coby Edgar and Emma Kindred, reflecting First Nations and non-First Nations perspectives on colonial narratives in the collection.

Home Contact Media Privacy statement User agreement Social media and community guidelines
© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency