Exhibitions Open to the Public
Once Known
Opened for the first time at the Old Perth Boys’ School, Once Known, presents a selection of meticulous reproductions of the delicate and treasured artworks created by Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s.
Kattidj Nagãr [Peaceful Quiet Reflection]
Kattidj Nagãr features artworks and personal objects created by the children who were forcibly removed from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s
A call and response across the ocean
Part of Perth Festival 2026, witness redefined histories through story, scent and song.
Our World in Photos
Bardi Jawi children aged 8-15 present their curation of Our World in Photos, produced through immersive, on-Country photovoice workshops in the very remote West Australian community of Ardyaloon. Their photographic stories explore what well-being means to them, through their own voices and vision, shaped by kinship, culture, Country and daily life.
Upcoming Events
Lunchtime Talk with Vannessa Hearman
Join us for a Lunchtime Talk with Associate Professor Vannessa Hearman: Looking both ways: The Timor Sea and Australia’s entanglements with Asia.
Twilight Hours at JCG
Open until 7pm, visit us for a twilight viewing at JCG
Perth Festival Exhibition Curator Tour
Join Lia McKnight for a guided tour of our Perth Festival exhibition, A call and response across the ocean.
Mapping our Inner Ocean: A Yin Yoga & Sound Bath Journey
Join us for a unique experience inspired by our current Perth Festival exhibition, ‘A call and response across the ocean’
Upcoming Exhibitions
Christopher Pease: Terra Nullius and Reko Rennie: OA_RR
An exhibition including works from Christopher Pease and Reko Rennie.
Regional Arts Triennial – Radical Futures
Focusing on collective imagination, Radical Futures reveals aspirations for tomorrow.
Find us on Instagram
✨ Curator Tour with Lia McKnight
Join JCG Curator, Lia McKnight for a guided tour of our Perth Festival exhibition, A call and response across the ocean.
📅Sunday 22 March 2026
⏰2pm – 3pm
📍John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University
Free event
This exhibition brings together living histories of the Indian Ocean in imagery, scents and sounds, reuniting friendships and kin ties that were severed through transglobal acts of colonisation.
This reconnection offers a vision of the world in which generosity, empathy and cross-cultural collaboration can begin to heal the wounds of the past. 💛
🔗 Register via link in bio!
@perthfest @perthartlist @curtinlifeaustralia @universityartmuseumsaustralia @curtinbfagrads @curtinguild @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music
Twilight hours are back! 🌝 (next Thursday)
Join us next Thursday 19 March at John Curtin Gallery while we stay open until 7pm. ✨
Experience the magic of art … after dark and Indulge in our @perthfest 2026 exhibition, A call and response across the ocean!
Take advantage of FREE PARKING from 4.30pm 🙌💛
Why not make it an evening and explore eateries located across @curtin_exchange.
📸 - @marnie__richardson
@curtinguild @curtinbfagrads @universityartmuseumsaustralia @perthartlist @explore_curtin @curtinlifeaustralia @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music
#johncurtingallery #art #perthexhibition
What can oceans reveal about Australia’s connections with Asia? 💭
Join historian Vannessa Hearman for a lunchtime talk exploring the Timor Sea as a space of movement, memory, and exchange between Northern Australia, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste.
Looking both ways: The Timor Sea and Australia’s entanglements with Asia -
📅 Wednesday 18 February 2026
⏰ 12:30pm – 1:30pm
📍 John Curtin Gallery (Building 200A)
Free event, open to the public
Drawing on place-based research across coastlines, lagoons, mangroves, and ports, Hearman reflects on colonisation, maritime borders, and how communities remember and memorialise the past.
🔗 RSVP via link in bio!
@curtinbfagrads
#JohnCurtinGallery #CurtinUniversity #LunchtimeTalk #TimorSea #HistoryTalk
Slow Making Afternoon with Jacky Cheng ✨
Join artist Jacky Cheng for a gentle, hands-on workshop at John Curtin Gallery that invites slow making, conversation, and reflection.
📅 Sunday 15 March
⏰ 1pm–3pm
📍 John Curtin Gallery (Building 200A)
The session offers a welcoming, inclusive space to explore folding as a creative and ritual practice using paper.
You’ll be guided through simple folding processes that encourage attentiveness to touch, repetition, and gesture.
Folding becomes a quiet act of care: a way to hold stories, mark time, and connect across personal and shared experiences.
$25 Curtin Students | $45 Curtin Staff / General Public
🔗 Register via link in bio!
No prior experience is required, and all materials are provided.
Arrive as you are – curious, reflective and ready to spend an afternoon making and thinking together. 💛
@perthfest @perthartlist @curtinlifeaustralia @jackychengart @universityartmuseumsaustralia @curtinbfagrads
Need a gentle space to create? Join us Wednesday 4 March!
Chronically Crafty is a relaxed, drop-in craft session for people with disability and neurodivergent communities, this creative session is always open to anyone who would like to create in a quiet, welcoming environment. 🧶
Bring whatever you’re working on (knitting, drawing, mending, journaling, beading — anything goes) and create at your own pace. No pressure. No expectations. Just time and space.
📍John Curtin Gallery - Wednesday 4 March - 12pm - 2pm
Facilitated by disabled artist, academic and advocate @jordanalice___.
💛 Come when you can
💛 Leave when you need
💛 Everyone welcome
Chronically Crafty will take place on the first Wednesday of during semester.
#ChronicallyCrafty #AccessibleArts #PerthCreatives #communitycare
Join us for yin yoga and an immersive sound bath inside the John Curtin Gallery! 🧘🌊
Step into a restorative experience inspired by A call and response across the ocean, and map your inner ocean, in this unique and peaceful program.
Enjoy gentle yin yoga and an immersive sound bath, this session invites you to slow down and reflect on your journey — past, present, and future.
📅 Wednesday 11 March & Wednesday 22 April 2026
⏰ 5:00pm–6:30pm
📍 John Curtin Gallery
⚠️ Gallery closes at 5pm — please arrive before 5pm for entry.
🎟 $20 Curtin Students | $25 Curtin Staff | $30 General Public
Led by JCG Education Coordinator Mel Macaulay and sound bath practitioner Anita Emor (Emora Suara), the experience creates space to pause, reconnect, and explore personal and shared histories.
🔗 Find out more via the link in bio!
Spots are limited — bookings essential.
Please bring comfortable clothing, a yoga mat, water bottle, blanket, and cushion.
@perthfest @perthartlist @curtinbfagrads @curtinlifeaustralia @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @curtinsports
Have you taken your Paper Voyage yet? ⛵️
Take a walk through our Access Gallery and let us know which place in the world means the most to you!
In response to our latest exhibition, A call and response across the ocean, this free, self-guided activity invites visitors to take a moment and explore themes of migration and shared histories through hands-on making.
John Curtin Gallery is open today (Sunday) from 12pm to 4pm.
A call and response across the ocean is on show until 3 May, for more information visit the link in our bio!
#johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #art #gallery #perthfest
@curtinbfagrads @curtinlifeaustralia
Thank you for the warm welcome! 💛
We`re one week into A call and response across the ocean and still buzzing!
This Perth Festival exhibition brings together stories of cultural exchange, connection, and resilience.
Huge thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us, you made this opening unforgettable. 👏
If you haven`t experienced this exhibition, you`ll want to! Open until May 3.
🔗 Link in bio, open until May 3.
📸 - Marnie Richardson & Sharon Baker.
#PerthFestival #Carrolup #LivingHistory #CommunityArts #CulturalExchange
@perthfest @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @berndt.museum @curtinbfagrads
A call and response across the ocean 🌊 Histories do not stay silent.
✨ Friday 6 February – Sunday 3 May.
Experience the rhythms, stories and scents of the Indian Ocean, and witness the reunion of friendships and kin ties severed through transglobal acts of colonisation.
Thania Petersen – JAWAP and Dhomala come together to offer a vision of the world where generosity, empathy and cross-cultural collaboration begin to heal the wounds of the past.
Through immersive installations, film, sound and historical works, A call and response across the ocean invites visitors to trace connections across continents and reflect on the enduring legacies of cultural exchange and resilience.
📍 Now open at John Curtin Gallery. Free, open to the public
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio!
Soundtrack 🎶: Sombalak Sailing Cycle, 2026, stereo single channel sound, produced by Michael Hohnen (@skinnyfish_music)
@perthfest @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @berndt.museum @curtinbfagrads
#johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #art gallery
Exhibition open soon ✨
Here`s what`s been happening behind the scenes at JCG, as we put the final touches on our latest exhibition.
From community art making to intricate curation it`s been all hands on deck bringing this one to life! 🙌
We’re excited to welcome you into A call and response across the ocean, opening Friday 6 Feb.
Huge thanks to the artists, installers and collaborators who made it happen. 💛
🔗 Learn more via the link in our bio.
@perthfest @thaniapetersen @abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music Berndt Museum @berndt.museum @curtinbfagrads
#johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #art #gallery #perthfest
Balanca na Balanydja Artist Performance Sunday 8 Feb. 🎶
Balanca na Balanydja (exchange to exchange) brings together Nebbie Burrarwanga, Abdi Karya and Michael Hohnen for a symbolic encounter, embodying a spiritual bond and sense of brotherhood across time and space.
Event details
➡️ Sunday 8 February 2026
➡️ 2:00–3:00pm
📍 John Curtin Gallery
🔗 Register via link in bio!
Following the performance, join the Perth Festival artists as they reflect on long-standing Yolŋu–Makassan relationships through new sound and textile works.
Part of the @perthfest 2026 program. 💛
@abdi.karya @skinnyfish_music @perthartlist
#johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #art #gallery #music #performance
Image: Abdi Karya, Hail the Sail (detail), 2026, hand-woven palm fibre, silk, cotton, polyester, and various Bugis hand-woven sarungs from Wajo Regency, South Sulawesi, 280 × 490 cm. Photo by Gaylene Galardi.
Artist Workshop with Abdi Karya (@abdi.karya) Friday 6 February!
A working tool, a social signal and a personal metaphor, the sarung (sarong) is far more than a garment. 🪡
Join South Sulawesi artist Abdi Karya as he shares the cultural history and living presence of the sarung across the Indonesian archipelago.
Event details
➡️ Friday 6 February 2026
➡️ 2:00–3:00pm
📍 John Curtin Gallery
Open to all ages and experience levels, this hands-on workshop explores personal expression and collective storytelling through this versatile cloth. ✨
🔗 Register via link in bio
@life.on.sarung @perthartlist #johncurtingallery #curtinuniversity #perthart #art #gallery #Indonesia #Sarung #perthfest
Locations
John Curtin Gallery Curtin University
Building 200A Curtin University, Kent Street
Bentley, Western Australia 6102
Phone: 08 9266 4155
Open Mon to Fri 10:00 – 5:00pm and Sun 12:00 – 4:00pm
Once Known – A Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling exhibition
Presented at the Old Perth Boys’ School
Curtin 139 St Georges Terrace,
Perth, Western Australia 6000
11:00am – 4:00pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (closed Wednesdays and Weekends)
