Primavera: Young Australian Artists
14 feb. — 22 mar. 2025
14 feb. — 22 mar. 2025
Primavera: Young Australian Artists
Image caption: Sarah Poulgrain, Learning howto build a houseboat: walls,fixings and rope (detail), 2023,installation view, Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists, Museumof Contemporary Art Australia,Sydney, 2023, steel, aluminium,handmade paper pulp, handmaderope, ceramic, glass, digital HD video, image courtesy and © theartist, photograph: Zan Wimberley
Image caption: Sarah Poulgrain, Learning howto build a houseboat: walls,fixings and rope (detail), 2023,installation view, Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists, Museumof Contemporary Art Australia,Sydney, 2023, steel, aluminium,handmade paper pulp, handmaderope, ceramic, glass, digital HD video, image courtesy and © theartist, photograph: Zan Wimberley
Primavera: Young Australian Artists
14 feb. — 22 mar. 2025
For Primavera: Young Australian Artists, Tiyan Baker, Christopher Bassi, Moorina Bonini, Nikki Lam, Sarah Poulgrain and True Truong investigate themes of protest, perseverance, identity and history.
Curator Talia Smith asks what are artists creating to challenge society's prescribed structures, built by a select few to supposedly serve and protect us?
Through new and recent works in various media, including installation, video, painting, sculpture, mark-making and text, Primavera is an exhibition as call to action. Drawing on their lived experience, these early-career artists work to disrupt the dynamics of power and deliver compelling alternatives to the status quo.
Primavera is an annual exhibition for Australian artists aged 35 years and under. It was initiated in 1992 by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in dialogue with Dr Edward Jackson AM and Mrs Cynthia Jackson AM in memory of their daughter Belinda, a talented jeweller who died at the age of 29. The exhibition commemorates Belinda Jackson by celebrating the creative achievements of young artists in the early stages of their careers.
A Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Museums & Galleries of NSW touring exhibition, curated by Talia Smith. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.
Related Events
21
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘the unshakable destiny_2101’ (detail), 2021, 16mm film transferred to digital video, 2K, colour, sound; PhotoTex, stools, beaded door curtain, 6min and ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’, (detail),2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘the unshakable destiny_2101’ (detail), 2021, 16mm film transferred to digital video, 2K, colour, sound; PhotoTex, stools, beaded door curtain, 6min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024 single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist and Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’, 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’, 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist and Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist and Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', (detail), 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist; Tiyan Baker, nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist and Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’ (detail), 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Tiyan Baker, ‘nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Tiyan Baker, ‘nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist; Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist and Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how to build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, steel couch, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’ (detail), 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist and Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how to build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’ (detail), 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’ (detail), 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Image caption: Sarah Poulgrain, Learning howto build a houseboat: walls,fixings and rope (detail), 2023,installation view, Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists, Museumof Contemporary Art Australia,Sydney, 2023, steel, aluminium,handmade paper pulp, handmaderope, ceramic, glass, digital HD video, image courtesy and © theartist, photograph: Zan Wimberley
Primavera: Young Australian Artists
14 feb. — 22 mar. 2025
For Primavera: Young Australian Artists, Tiyan Baker, Christopher Bassi, Moorina Bonini, Nikki Lam, Sarah Poulgrain and True Truong investigate themes of protest, perseverance, identity and history.
Curator Talia Smith asks what are artists creating to challenge society's prescribed structures, built by a select few to supposedly serve and protect us?
Through new and recent works in various media, including installation, video, painting, sculpture, mark-making and text, Primavera is an exhibition as call to action. Drawing on their lived experience, these early-career artists work to disrupt the dynamics of power and deliver compelling alternatives to the status quo.
Primavera is an annual exhibition for Australian artists aged 35 years and under. It was initiated in 1992 by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in dialogue with Dr Edward Jackson AM and Mrs Cynthia Jackson AM in memory of their daughter Belinda, a talented jeweller who died at the age of 29. The exhibition commemorates Belinda Jackson by celebrating the creative achievements of young artists in the early stages of their careers.
A Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Museums & Galleries of NSW touring exhibition, curated by Talia Smith. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.
Related Events
21
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘the unshakable destiny_2101’ (detail), 2021, 16mm film transferred to digital video, 2K, colour, sound; PhotoTex, stools, beaded door curtain, 6min and ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’, (detail),2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘the unshakable destiny_2101’ (detail), 2021, 16mm film transferred to digital video, 2K, colour, sound; PhotoTex, stools, beaded door curtain, 6min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024 single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Nikki Lam, ‘The Unshakable Destiny, Release’ (detail), 2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, 8 min, courtesy and © the artist and Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’, 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’, 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist and Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Christopher Bassi, ‘Monument to the South/West Waters of a Great Ocean’ (detail), 2023, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, © the artist and Truc Truong, 'I Pray You Eat Cake', (detail), 2023, toys, found objects, packaged food, synthetic polymer paint, fabric, wood, aluminium, stainless steel, electromechanical components, dried pig trotters, dried chicken feet, tassels, rope, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist; Tiyan Baker, nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist and Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’ (detail), 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Tiyan Baker, ‘nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Tiyan Baker, ‘nyatu’ maanŭ mungut bigabu’, 2021, digital autostereogram print on cotton rag, courtesy and © the artist; Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist and Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how to build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, steel couch, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’ (detail), 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist and Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how to build a houseboat’, 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’ (detail), 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Sarah Poulgrain, ‘Learning how two build a houseboat’ (detail), 2024, steel, handmade paper pulp, handmade rope, ceramic bath tiles, two channel video, printed book, plate glass, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.
Installation view ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists’ featuring Moorina Bonini, ‘dapalama (between)’, 2023, vinyl text, courtesy and © the artist. Photograph Silversalt Photography.