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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

Daily from Saturday 24 August 2024 until Sunday 2 February 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

Bookings not required - free

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, Currently on display.

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.

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This program is wheelchair accessible.

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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.

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