Preview Taja Vaetoru on tradition and intuition Taja Vaetoru’s debut solo exhibition Idol, now showing .M Contemporary, explores their Polynesian ancestry, questions of tradition and worship, and how to intersect the past with the present. Sally Gearon
Preview Unity and reciprocity with Mimili Maku Arts With works from Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin, Betty Pumani and Robert Fielding, Aboriginal-owned Mimili Maku Arts’ first exhibition with Ames Yavuz is an opportunity to celebrate the milestone of their 20 year anniversary, as well as the ways of working that are integral to the centre and Aṉangu culture. Jo Higgins
News The 2025 Archibald Prize finalists have been announced The finalist portraits in the biggest Australian art award of the year have been announced, alongside the winner of The Packing Room Prize: Abdul Abdullah for his portrait of fellow artist Jason Phu. Art Guide Australia
Feature A reason for paws Cats & Dogs, now showing at the National Gallery of Victoria, explores the ways that the relationships we share with our pets are a source of strangeness and intimacy. But for Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, it’s also an exercise in the power of seeing and being seen. Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Feature Théo Mercier’s sites unseen Equal parts monumental and fleeting, the sand sculptures of French artist Théo Mercier chart the histories—beyond our lines of vision—that a landscape reveals and conceals. Mercier’s MIRRORSCAPE is now showing at Mona. Briony Downes
Book Reviews Book Preview: Thin Skin by Jennifer Higgie There are many parallels between skin and painting. “Paint is a thin skin on a surface—a layer that transmits ideas into the world,” writes Jennifer Higgie in Thin Skin, the accompanying publication to a 2023 exhibition featuring paintings by thirty-six Australian and international artists. Jackson McLaren