Shifting Ground: Art by First Nations Women of Australia
— The Arts Club, London 06 October 2025 — 25 January 2026

Shifting Ground: Art by First Nations Women of Australia isthe focal exhibition of The Arts Club’s autumn programme, on view from 6 October 2025 to 24 January 2026. Shown in the Drawing Room and upper staircase, this timely exhibition celebrates the work of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women artists, offering UK audiences a rare opportunity to engage with their vital and distinctive practices. At a moment when art history is being re-examined and expanded, the exhibition highlights artists whose contributions have long been overlooked, opening the canon to new voices and broader recognition.

Shifting Ground brings together works by some of the most significant contemporary Aboriginal women artists, including Emily Kam Kngwarray, currently the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Modern, alongside Sonia Kurarra, Eunice Napanangka Jack, Judy Watson, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Makinti Napanangka AM, Yukultji Napangati, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, and Lucky Kngwarreye Morton.

Spanning generations and regions, the exhibition showcases the extraordinary diversity of First Nations artmaking, from bold gestural compositions in synthetic polymer paint on linen to the delicate layered luminosity of pigment and ink. Key works include Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s My Country (2009), Yukultji Napangati’s Untitled (2012), and Emily Kam Kngwarray’s Body-Paint Lines (1995). These pieces embody deep connections to country and cultural knowledge while engaging with contemporary visual languages that shape the global discourse on abstraction and identity.

The exhibition is especially timely, aligning with a growing recognition of First Nations artists within the global art historical canon, marked by Emily Kam Kngwarray’s retrospective at Tate Modern and next year’s The Stars We Do Not See at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. In presenting these artists together in London, the exhibition underscores their rightful place in the global story of modern and contemporary art; a significant moment in the shift towards a more inclusive, representative canon.

On view in the staircase is a series of collages by American artist Grace Weaver, renowned for her figurative paintings and drawings that balance intimacy with bold formalism. The series originated during Weaver’s travels in Morocco, where she first developed her collage approach, and in Ireland where her work was inspired by James Joyce and the magpie-esque aspect of his writing process. Created using collected materials – candy wrappers, book covers, church programs, menus, postcards – the pieces are modest in scale yet rich in layered associations, intertwining personal narrative with broader reflections on place and time.

The exhibition is curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes of Wedel Art.

It was made possible through the generous support of D’Lan Contemporary, Karma Gallery, JGM Gallery, Max Hetzler Gallery, and Mary and Lily Petherick, whose loaned works have been integral in bringing the show to fruition. Appreciation is also extended to Grace Weaver, featured in the concurrent exhibition.