MAPh - Museum of Australian Photography

MAPh - Museum of Australian Photography MAPh: the Australian home of photography and the William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize Entry to MAPh is FREE!
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The Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) is the Australian home of photography. We're dedicated to the preservation, collection and display of Australian photographs. www.maph.org.au

MAPh is the premier cultural facility of the City of Monash. Monash City Council reserves the right to remove content that violates its Social Media Policy or any associated policies. Materials authored or posted

are subject to public disclosure. MAPh is supported by Creative Victoria, the MAPh Foundation and its generous sponsors.

Counting down: one week until our Photography Fair fundraiser! We're delighted to bring you an impressive catalogue of a...
22/05/2026

Counting down: one week until our Photography Fair fundraiser! We're delighted to bring you an impressive catalogue of artists whose work is for sale, including Brook Andrew (works pictured here).

This is a unique opportunity to view and purchase professionally produced artworks from a range of artists - from the emerging to the established - at tiered prices. This fundraiser supports not only our museum but also the artists, as we split the proceeds of each sale 50/50.

Saturday 30 + Sunday 31 May
10am to 4pm
FREE > No RSVP required, just come along
Works sold on a first-come, first-served basis

View the catalogue here: shop.maph.org.au/collections/maph-art-fair-2026
(no presales)

MAPh X Photography Fair is proudly supported by:
MAPh Foundation
ARTEN Arten
Final Grade Final Grade
Spicers Spicers Australia

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Images:
Brook ANDREW
Systems of Substance I (small) 2017
Ilford warm tone matt fibre gelatin silver print
Archivally selenium toned
62.0 x 70.5 cm framed size
collection of the artist
courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels; Ames Yavuz Gallery Sydney and Singapore; Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
Edition 1/5 plus 1AP

Systems of Substance V (small) 2017
Ilford warm tone matt fibre gelatin silver print
Archivally selenium toned, hand coloured
62.0 x 70.5 cm framed size
collection of the artist
courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels; Ames Yavuz Gallery Sydney and Singapore; Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
Edition 1/5 plus 1AP

Over the last few years the museum has been building one of the most significant collections of Brook Andrew’s work in A...
21/05/2026

Over the last few years the museum has been building one of the most significant collections of Brook Andrew’s work in Australia.

That commitment comes together in ROLLERCOASTER: winhangadurinya in motion.

Opening 6 June, this is a major exhibition spanning photography, collage, neon, installation and moving image.

Bringing together a new commission, collection works and material from the artist’s own archive, the exhibition moves through histories, memory, museums and the systems of representation that continue to shape contemporary life.

Brook Andrew is an artist whose conceptual practice shifts across photography, performance, moving image, installation, public space and research, often through deep collaboration with artists, communities and friends. His practice is informed by his experiences as a Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal, kweer person from south eastern Australia, alongside an ongoing curiosity about the world and the intersecting relationships and kinship between people, memory, culture and place.

ROLLERCOASTER reminds us that the future is not fixed, but something still in motion, shaped through attention, care, responsibility and collective thought.

Hold to madness. Come for a ride!

6 June to 30 August
Exhibition launch Saturday 13 June 1pm to 3pm
RSVP via link in bio

ROLLERCOASTER is curated by MAPh Senior Curator Angela Connor






Brook ANDREW
Hold to madness... 2020 (detail)
from the series This year
chromogenic print
159.0 x 129.0 cm
Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection
donated 2023
courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels; Ames Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, London and Singapore; and Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne

20/05/2026

Bowness Photography Prize: VITAL STATISTICS

Did you know: over the last 21 years, more than 1000 artists’ works have been shortlisted in the annual exhibition of finalists, with 20 of these acquired by MAPh for our permanent collection. A total of $577,000 in prize money has been awarded across this time, with the winning artist now receiving $50,000.

Submit your work this year, and maybe it could be you!

Guest judges Natasha Bullock (Senior Curator, Photography NGV) + Petrina Hicks (artist and 2014 winner Bowness Photography Prize) join MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea on our judging panel. They can't wait to see what you've been working on.

Entries close 11.59pm Sunday 14 June
maph.org.au/bowness-photography-prize

We're so grateful to our volunteers at MAPh! They bring warmth and welcoming smiles to our visitors, sharing insights an...
19/05/2026

We're so grateful to our volunteers at MAPh! They bring warmth and welcoming smiles to our visitors, sharing insights and making our spaces accessible to all.

Here's Jennifer chatting with MAPh regular Elcira about the value of public arts spaces and the ways that volunteering enriches our lives.

In National Volunteer Week (18 to 24 May) we send a special thanks to all the volunteers: so often the unseen force making good things happen in our community.

Join MAPh Senior Curator Angela Connor for her final tour of CODED BLOOMS | flowers have never been innocent 🌻🌺🌹Angela w...
18/05/2026

Join MAPh Senior Curator Angela Connor for her final tour of CODED BLOOMS | flowers have never been innocent 🌻🌺🌹

Angela will share her insights into the works, the artists' practice and ways in which flowers embody ideas well beyond their mere beauty.

🗓️ 1pm Wednesday 20 May
💌 FREE > RSVP here: maph.org.au/events/998

🌹 Robert Mapplethorpe
🌹 Pat Brassington
🌹Del Kathryn Barton
🌹 Jake Preval
🌹 Meng-Yu Yan

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Image:
John ZHENG
Coded blooms exhibition launch 2026
courtesy Museum of Australian Photography

We're delighted to be exhibiting select artists from our recent TOPshots exhibition in our upcoming Photography Fair 💫 W...
16/05/2026

We're delighted to be exhibiting select artists from our recent TOPshots exhibition in our upcoming Photography Fair 💫

While it's an opportunity for these emerging artists to be exhibited among some very stellar company, it's also an opportunity for collectors. Take home one of these exciting new works and you might be one of the first collectors of tomorrow's most sought-after artists!

MAPh's Photography Fair is a fundraiser for the museum, but as we split the proceeds 50/50 it also supports the artists whose work is purchased. So be sure to come along, browse the wide range of artworks at tiered prices, and enjoy the chance to acquire something special.

Saturday 30 + Sunday 31 May
10am to 4pm
Free entry > no RSVP required
Sparkling wine on arrival thanks to St Huberts Wines

📸 PLUS we're hosting artist John Gollings in conversation with MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea!
11am Saturday 30 May
Free entry > please RSVP via our website: maph.org.au/events/1008

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Image:
Emmet COOPER-FLYNN (winner, TOPshots 2026)
The housewife 2025
from the series A caged bird sings
pigment ink-jet print
29.7 x 42.0 cm
collection of the artist
courtesy of the artist and Haileybury College

Today's dreamers are tomorrow's doers ☁️✨The power of art to open young minds to possibilities, and to engage in inquiry...
14/05/2026

Today's dreamers are tomorrow's doers ☁️✨

The power of art to open young minds to possibilities, and to engage in inquiry-based learning, is profound. And how can you help? It starts with a donation – big or small, your gift will have a lasting impact.

MAPh supports learners across all stages of their arts education, from MAPh Mini Makers to school excursions and resources and our annual TOPShots and Develop exhibitions.

Help us raise $65,000 by 30 June to support arts education at MAPh.

Your tax-deductible donation will enable the problem-solvers of tomorrow to thrive: weaving the tapestry of our future community through the vibrant threads of strong arts education.

To support MAPh's education program, head to maph.org.au/support/donate-future-focus and see how your donation can make a big impact. We're grateful for your support 💗

Get on the judges' radar with this year's Bowness Photography Prize! 📸💥One of the great benefits of entering is that you...
14/05/2026

Get on the judges' radar with this year's Bowness Photography Prize! 📸💥

One of the great benefits of entering is that your work will be seen by folks who know photo. This year the panel includes Natasha Bullock, Senior Curator Photography at the NGV; Petrina Hicks, artist + winner of the 2014 Bowness Photography Prize; and Anouska Phizacklea, MAPh Director.

✨ They want to see your work! So get started on your submission - you can submit three works per entry.
🗓️ Deadline: Sunday 14 June
💌 Enter: maph.org.au/bowness-photography-prize

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About our guest judges:
Natasha Bullock is an award-winning curator and art historian with over 25 years' experience working with Australian and international contemporary art. She is currently Senior Curator, Photography at the National Gallery of Victoria, having previously served as Assistant Director, Artistic Programs at the National Gallery of Australia, Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Natasha has curated more than 80 exhibitions, working with artists including Tracey Emin, Pipilotti Rist, Bill Viola, John Mawurndjul AM, Michael Armitage and Shaun Gladwell. A recognised advocate for gender equity in the arts, Natasha led Know My Name, the National Gallery of Australia's landmark initiative redressing the representation of women artists. In 2023 she received the Australian Award for Excellence in Women's Leadership in recognition of this work.

Petrina Hicks is a contemporary Australian photographer known for her striking, hyper-real images that explore themes of beauty, identity, and the human relationship with animals. Working primarily in staged photography, Hicks often features meticulously composed portraits that explore depictions of women and feminine symbolism drawn from art history and mythology.

Her work is held in many public collections including the Museum of Australian Photography, National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington.

Celebrating all the mothers and mother-kind today, whose work and care deserves recognition, and the acknowledgement tha...
09/05/2026

Celebrating all the mothers and mother-kind today, whose work and care deserves recognition, and the acknowledgement that mothering is not always rosy, neat or perfect.

'CODED BLOOMS | flowers have never been innocent' continues at MAPh, and features Del Kathryn Barton's new video installation 'u r' my flower'. This work explores and presents her experience of mothering, while honouring her own mother also.

🌼

In her opening address at the launch of this exhibition, Barton described the installation as 'a devotional love-letter to flowers from within my female experience. It is also a stream-of-consciousness self-portrait of sorts' that is 'birthed from and then dissolving into layered spaces of saturated maximalism.'

🌹

We are delighted to share with you here some of her words on how flowers are connected to her personal expression of motherhood and her own mother as well:

'My beloved mother was the most passionate gardener, tending to all her plants with the greatest labour of love. Flowers and vegetables all glowing with the joy and idiosyncrasies of being home grown. Her gardens were worlds of riotous colour and sensory diversity. The purity of her duty of care was next level – growing her own seeds, permaculture, the childlike joy she took in every bloom.'

🌸

'Flowers are so utterly gloriously embodied – wide open s*x organs ripe for reproduction. [The artwork] "Womb flower" speaks to the mothering experience. So many intimate beats where bodies and flowers touch and dissolve in rapture. In these generous, soft blooming worlds, everyone’s dreams can come true.'

CODED BLOOMS is open today, Mother's Day
10am to 4pm
FREE!

Curated by MAPh Senior Curator Angela Connor

🌷🪻🌻🌺

Images:
Del Kathryn BARTON
stills from u r my flower 2025–26
two-screen film installation
dimensions variable
multichannel audio
duration 30 minutes
courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney)

Nicholas MAHADY
installation views, u r my flower
Coded blooms exhibition 2026
courtesy Museum of Australian Photography

📢 Artists working with photography! What are you doing this weekend? Surely you're preparing your submission to the Bown...
08/05/2026

📢 Artists working with photography! What are you doing this weekend? Surely you're preparing your submission to the Bowness Photography Prize 📸❤️‍🔥

🗓️ Just over one month until the deadline: 11.59pm Sunday 14 June

✨ Put yourself in the running for:
$50,000 first prize
$2,500 each for two honourable mentions
$5,000 People's Choice Award
$10,000 Wai Tang Commission + solo exhibition opportunity at MAPh
✨ PLUS all finalists are awarded loan fees for the exhibition of their work.

💌 You can begin your entry and keep editing until you're ready to submit, so: link in bio, enter now and get your work into Australia's most generous cash prize for photography!

Pictured is the People's Choice Award winner from 2025, 'CIRE [001]' by Lila Benetti.

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Lilah BENETTI
CIRE [001] 2024
from the series CIRE
pigment ink-jet print
70.0 x 60.0 cm
collection of the artist
courtesy of the artist

Art books, photobooks, small press, MAPh publications: all fair game at the upcoming Melbourne Art Book Fair!MAPh will b...
07/05/2026

Art books, photobooks, small press, MAPh publications: all fair game at the upcoming Melbourne Art Book Fair!

MAPh will be at there, from 15 to 17 May, hanging out at the NGV’s Great Hall among a marketplace of art books, publishing and design. You'll find stalls by local, national and international publishers, with everything from zines to coffee-table tomes. All art-focused, naturally ❤️‍🔥

Friday 15 to Sunday 17 May
10am to 5pm
NGV Great Hall
FREE

Melbourne Art Book Fair is part of Melbourne Design Week (14 to 24 May): a city-wide celebration of art book publishing and Melbourne’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature.

💌 View the program via the link in our bio to discover the workshops, exhibitions, talks and art-book adventuring scheduled across the fair. And come say hi!

National Gallery of Victoria

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Image:
John ZHENG
Coded blooms exhibition launch 2026
courtesy Museum of Australian Photography

Address

860 Ferntree Gully Road
Wheelers Hill, VIC
3150

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+61385440500

Website

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