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University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery

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Located at the UniSC Sunshine Coast campus, the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery is a space where art, ideas and community come together.

CRICOS Provider Number: 01595D

08/10/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 'Coral Futures Symposium' last weekend! 🪸

We had a wonderful day listening, learning, and discovering the many ways artists, researchers, First Nations knowledge holders, and community members are engaging with coral and the urgent challenges facing our marine environments.

From creative practice and scientific research to cultural knowledge, advocacy and collective action, the day reminded us that coral is not only a symbol of ecological crisis; it can also help us imagine new possibilities for care, connection and collaboration.

A huge thank you to our generous speakers, panellists and attendees for sharing your knowledge, experiences and questions with us. We left feeling inspired, hopeful and energised by the conversations that unfolded throughout the day.

Presented with support from the Australian Government's Regional Arts Fund (provided through Regional Arts Australia and administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance), along with the UniSC Creative Ecologies Research and the UniSC Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, University Art Museum's Australia and Linden New Art.

📸 Marcia Grimm

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05/10/2026

Congratulations to Ian Friend and Ipswich Art Gallery on the opening of 'Ian Friend—The Noise of Time'.

'The Noise of Time' brings together more than 30 years of Ian Friend’s artistic practice. The exhibition includes works from 1993 to works made in his Ipswich studio in 2026.

We're thrilled that 'Les Perspecteurs' (2011) from the UniSC Art Collection is featured in the exhibition, which continues until 29 November. Head over to for all the details.

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Ian Friend
Les Perspecteurs
2011
Indian ink, gouache, crayon and pen on Arches paper
90 x 124cm
University of the Sunshine Coast Art Collection
Donated through the Australian Government Cultural Gifts Program by Robyn Daw, 2019
© Ian Friend

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1. Detail of 'Les Perspecteurs'. Photo: Carl Warner
2-3. The opening of 'Ian Friend—The Noise of Time' at Ipswich Art Gallery. Photos: Rachel Harris

30/09/2026

🪸 Artist Spotlight: Rachel O'Reilly

Now showing in 'Coral Futures' is NORTHERN WATERS (2025) by Rachel O'Reilly. O'Reilly's third major moving-image commission responds to the archive of the historic 'Save the Reef' campaign (1967–75), which culminated in the protection of the entire Great Barrier Reef from the global oil industry. At the time, Indigenous people lived under apartheid conditions in Queensland, and activists had no knowledge of the Reef's Indigenous cultural heritage.

NORTHERN WATERS maps a landscape of perspective, shaped by unequal experiences of industry, tourism, and environmental defence across North Queensland's (under)protected areas. Shot in Mission Beach on Djiru Country, Girringun National Park, Mungalla Station, and Townsville's marine research infrastructures on Wulgurukaba and Bindal Country, it attends to at-risk ecologies, the objectivity of 'management', and archives of refusal.

Screened in the Gallery daily at 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm.

Hear from the artist about this work at the Coral Futures Symposium' on Saturday 3 October. Details in our bio.

Featuring Phil Rist (Nywaigi), Sonya Takau (Jirrbal), Percy Neal (Guru Bana Kungunghj/Djungan), Leonard Andy (Djiru), Margaret Moorhouse (Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook), Rohan Lloyd, Hillary Smith, Jacob Cassady (Nywaigi) and Isaac Cassady (Nywaigi).

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Installation views of Rachel O'Reilly's 'NORTHERN WATERS' 2025 at UniSC Art Gallery. Photos: Carl Warner.

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26/09/2026

🪸 Artist Spotlight: Nicholas Mangan

Now showing in 'Coral Futures', Nicholas Mangan's 'Core-Coralations' (2021-24) continues a decade-long interrogation of extractive industries and their impact on geopolitics and climate change. The Great Barrier Reef stands in as a metaphor for the ideological barrier shaping Australia's response to climate change and migration.

In 'Core-Coralations (Bronchial Diversion)' (2024), branching, lung-like forms cast from PVC piping sprout coral growths, becoming an organic-mechanical hybrid. Spread across the gallery floor, the sculpture obstructs the viewer's path, echoing the way reefs shield coastlines.

In 'Death Assemblage' (2024), a cross-section of coral is lit by alternating cool white and ultraviolet light, approximating bleaching. On the reverse, archival coral core footage is paired with a voiceover detailing the 43 US nuclear tests on Enewetak Atoll from 1948 to 1958.

One suggests a post-apocalyptic life form; the other, an ossuary for coral death in the nuclear age.

Hear from the artist about this work at the Coral Futures symposium on Saturday 3 October. Details in bio.

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1, 4. Installation views of 'Coral Futures' at UniSC Art Gallery. Photos: Carl Warner
2. Installation view of 'Core Correlations' 2024. Photo: Hamish McIntosh
3. Still from 'Death Assemblage (The blade that makes coral time is shaped like a mushroom cloud)' 2024.
© Nicholas Mangan

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23/09/2026

Visit ‘Coral Futures’ at UniSC Art Gallery
1 August — 17 October 2026

This exhibition presents a range of poetic and speculative responses to coral. These small marine animals form the foundations of healthy reef ecologies, now facing unprecedented, existential threats from human-induced climate change. Coral Futures brings together new and recent projects by First Nations and other contemporary Australian artists, considering coral’s importance to the survival of vital marine ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef, as well as its implications for broader cultural, economic, and environmental systems.

Artists
Erub Arts (Jimmy John Thaiday, Florence Gutchen, Nancy Naawi, Lavinia Ketchell), Helga Groves, Laresa Kosloff, Nicholas Mangan, Rachel O’Reilly, Marian

UniSC: Uni of the Sunshine Coast
University of the SunshineUniversity of the Sunshine Coast Art GalleryawLinden New ArtHamish Sawyer

22/09/2026

Want to read a little more about the artworks and artists in 'Coral Futures'?

The room sheet is now available online for you to peruse at your own pace. You can find this through the link in our bio by clicking the 'Coral Futures' exhibition tab.

And let us know what you think by filling out our visitor survey. You can find it through the same link in our bio, too. 🪸 ✨

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Coral Futures is curated by Hamish Sawyer and presented in partnership with Linden New Art, Naarm (Melbourne), where it was shown 15 November 2025 – 1 February 2026 and Cairns Art Gallery, Gimuy (Cairns), where it will be shown 5 December 2026 – 28 February 2027.

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11/09/2026

As UniSC marks three decades of its Art Collection, Megan Williams reflects on the community support that has shaped its growth, tracing key milestones, the people involved, and the partnerships that have contributed to its development, along with its vision for the future.

Read the full story via the link in our bio.

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1. Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori 'All the fish in the sea' 2005. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. UniSC Art Collection. Donated through the Australian Government Cultural Gifts Program by John Mainwaring in 2012. © Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda/Copyright Agency, 2026. Photo: Mick Richards
2. Megan Williams. Photo: Marcia Grimm

09/09/2026

📣 Tickets are now available for the 'Coral Futures Symposium'.

Date: Saturday 3 October 2026
Time: 9am–3pm
Location: UniSC Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs

🪸 Speakers include Aunty Helena Gulash (Kabi Kabi), Jimmy John Thaiday (Kuz/Peiudu), Lyndon Davis (Kabi Kabi), Rachel O'Reilly, Marian Tubbs, Nicholas Mangan, Laresa Kosloff, Hamish Sawyer, Leah Barclay and Javier Leon, among others.

To see the full program and to register, head to the link in our bio 🔗

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Held in conjunction with the exhibition 'Coral Futures', this symposium brings together artists, First Nations knowledge holders, and researchers to explore what it means to think, imagine, and act alongside coral in a time of ecological upheaval.

If coral has become a bellwether of planetary crisis, how might it also guide us in reimagining our relationship to the more-than-human world? Moving beyond the language of loss and catastrophe, speakers will consider coral as a site of cultural knowledge, inquiry, and creative possibility, asking what new modes of care, kinship, and collaboration might emerge when we look closely at a single organism.

Cost
$25 full price
$15 students and concession card holders
Price includes a fantastic lunch by Nooks and Cooks, and tea and coffee on arrival.

Free Mob Tix are available. DM us, or email [email protected] to reserve your spot.

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Presented with support from the Australian Government's Regional Arts Fund (provided through Regional Arts Australia and administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance), along with the UniSC Creative Ecologies Research and the UniSC Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, and Linden New Art.

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📸 Erub Arts (Jimmy John Thaiday, Florence Gutchen, Nancy Naawi, Lavinia Ketchell) 'Home Reef' 2025. Ghost net. Courtesy of the artists and Erub Arts, Darnley Island. Photo: Simon Strong.
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31/08/2026

30 YEARS, 30 ARTWORKS

During 2026, we're sharing stories and standout pieces from the Art Collection to celebrate 30 years of UniSC.

We asked our colleague, Dr Tricia King, to choose her favourite work in the collection. Since Tricia teaches photography, we were about 99% sure she'd pick a photograph ... and she did: William Yang's 'Ben Law, Arncliffe.'

Trica says, "This photograph feels like a conversation between two remarkable storytellers. Together, William Yang and Benjamin Law create a work that celebrates visibility, identity and the courage of allowing yourself to be seen."

Drawing on his own lived experience, William Yang offers an unflinching lens on life. Based in Sydney, his work is shaped by his upbringing in north Queensland as a gay man from a third-generation Chinese immigrant family. Best known for his joyful and reflective documentation of Australia's q***r scene through the late '70s and '80s, Yang's photographs also reveal raw, vulnerable and sometimes confronting moments.

Storytelling sits at the heart of his practice. Recognising that many images held stories beyond what the photo alone could tell, he began writing directly onto his prints, giving voice to marginalised communities and their untold narratives.

This can be seen here in this photograph of writer and broadcaster, Benjamin Law. The inscription says, “William Yang’s great superpower is his capacity to disarm. His quietly cheeky charm ensures people are comfortable in that most searingly uncomfortable of situations, being examined and exposed in front of a camera. In William’s presence you just forget. One moment you're talking about work and gossiping about friends, the next you’re shirtless, and down to your jocks as he snaps away.”

We think Tricia's right. This work captures the dialogue between two great storytellers.

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See first comment for full image credits ⬇

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art.designaustralia

Address

90 Sippy Downs Drive
Sippy Downs, QLD
4556

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 4pm
Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 1pm

Telephone

+61754594645

Website

http://www.usc.edu.au/art-gallery

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