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This summer, the Warrnambool Art Gallery proudly presents The Regional, a landmark exhibition celebrating the depth and diversity of regional Australian artists.
Opening 15 November, The Regional, curated by Aaron Bradbrook and Micky Schubert, brings together five solo exhibitions by leading artists born or based in regional Australia working across visual and performance arts, sound and design: Atlanta Eke, Gus Franklin, Paul McCann, Bronwyn Razem, and Peter Tyndall.
Uniting themes of family, tradition, interconnection and home The Regional commissions and showcases ambitious new work by artists who are shaped by—or engaging with—the ideas, contexts and lived realities of regional, remote, and rural Australia.
“The Regional emerged from a desire to challenge a widespread idea,” said Warrnambool Art Gallery Director Aaron Bradbrook.
“Too often regional arts practices and institutions are positioned within a dichotomy of metropolitan (centre) and regional (periphery). This exhibition prompts us to consider the accuracy of this idea. After all, some of the areas often considered the most regional and remote, in fact sit at the heart of this continent. If the centre is both here and there, where does it begin and end, or does it exist at all?”
At the heart of The Regional is a commitment to valuing regional contributions as integral and essential components of Australia’s cultural landscape. The artists represented forge connections, cultivate distinct narratives, and expand our collective understanding of place, identity, and community.
Each solo exhibition reflects the unique practices of its artist:
Paul McCann presents [The Debutante]
The Debutante presents Marrithiyel fashion designer Paul McCann’s most ambitious exhibition to date, following his critical acclaim at the inaugural Indigenous-led runway event held at Australian Fashion Week in 2021. For The Regional, McCann examines the colonial legacy of debutante balls, which largely reinforced strict fashion, gender and racial codes. Working alongside award-winning architects, Studio Bright, The Debutante reimagines the ball, reflecting on Australia’s history through McCann’s family story.
Referencing his grandmother Elizabeth Clarke’s debut at St Mary’s debutante ball in Darwin 1952, McCann updates the traditional white gowns and applies hand painted designs and material adornment as an act of reclamation, protest and ultimately, cultural celebration.
By interweaving the traditional and the contemporary, McCann brings our attention to the historical ways European clothing was weaponised against First Nations peoples as a tool to force assimilation, instead transforming it into a celebration of autonomy and power through glitz and glamour.
Atlanta Eke presents A Streetlight Named Empire
Atlanta Eke is an award-winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the body’s role in generating new modes of thinking and being. Developed for The Regional, A Streetlight Named Empire is a surreal, satirical musical theatre installation set inside a gallery starring six old streetlights rescued from behind the Warrnambool tennis club.
Set against the backdrop of 1990s Victoria and the then Premier Jeff Kennett’s program of privatisation of state-owned services, deregulation and funding cuts, Eke uses these seismic shifts in policy to weave an unforgettable political fable.
Bronwyn Razem
Bronwyn Razem is a Gunditjmara master weaver born and raised in Warrnambool and currently based in Geelong on Wadawurrung Country. Razem is recognised as a leading cultural figure in the revival and sharing of traditional weaving techniques of the region. Central to her practice is the continuity of culture passed down through her matrilineal line, from her grandmother and mother to her own daughters.
At the heart of her exhibition for The Regional is a newly commissioned traditional eel trap basket, referencing the Gunditjmara’s highly sophisticated aquaculture systems. This exhibition celebrates a momentous occasion for the gallery and artist - representing Razem’s first public solo institutional exhibition held on her Country.
Gus Franklin debuts The edge of forever
This site-specific sound intervention will transform the Gallery’s foyer into an intimate and immersive auditory experience. Warrnambool-based Franklin is a composer, producer, sound artist, and founding member of the ARIA-nominated group Architecture in Helsinki. Drawing on field and natural vibration recordings, Franklin creates a sonic exploration of his birthplace, Port Fairy—a place of rich cultural history and socio-political complexity. Activated by audience interaction, the work melds gathered source material with algorithmic compositions that never repeat, ensuring a unique encounter for each visitor. Both sonic love letter and critical reflection, The edge of forever interrogates the notion of home while dissolving preconceptions of traditional audience engagement by placing the listener at the centre of their own shifting tonal harmony.
Peter Tyndall presents The Blue Horizon
For more than 50 years, Peter Tyndall has been one of Australia’s most influential artists, renowned for his unique and thought-provoking exploration of the recursive relationship between art, language, and meaning. Refined over decades, Tyndall’s practice employs a framework comprised of a set of rigorous symbols as signifiers of his view of the world.
For The Regional Tyndall presents a deeply personal and emotionally charged work. Entitled The Blue Horizon, the exhibition is based on a poem written by his late partner Christine while holidaying at Bridgewater Bay in Southwest Victoria in 2010. Fifteen years later in May of 2025, Tyndall returned to Bridgewater Bay to scatter Christine’s ashes, along with her mother Joy’s, father Les’, and beloved dog Susie’s. This significant act and symbolic gesture, recognises the profound importance family has played and continues to play in Tyndall’s life and practice, while advancing his life-long quest for understanding one’s relationship and interconnection with all that surrounds us and beyond.
“This is an exciting new event that will celebrate the spirit of the region and showcase the array of incredible creative talent across the Warrnambool community,” Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos said.
“We’re proud to support events like this through the Regional Events Fund, because they deliver a major boost to local businesses and attract visitors to some of Victoria’s most stunning destinations.”
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Ben Blain said the city was proud to showcase the work of the five prominent Australian artists.
“These are all acclaimed artists who also happen to be from, or reside in, regional Australia,” Cr Blain said.
“This summer the Warrnambool Art Gallery is providing a rare opportunity to see first-hand the work of these artists under one roof. It will be inspiring, provocative and I’m sure people will be fascinated to see how the themes of excellence, regionality, community and home are reflected in the curated works.”
While deeply rooted in Warrnambool, The Regional is designed to resonate far beyond the local, creating a platform that moves, transforms, and expands across geographies. It highlights how artists from regional places contribute to national and international dialogues, enriching the cultural landscape with perspectives that are at once local and universal.
Warrnambool Art Gallery invites audiences from across Victoria and beyond to experience this ambitious program and celebrate the vibrancy of regional art.
The Regional is proudly supported by the Australian Government through the Regional Events Fund, the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria, and the Department of Education and Training, and Warrnambool City Council.