Dynamic program of exhibitions coming to Wangaratta Art Gallery

After a successful year in 2025 which saw more than 35,000 people enjoy what it has to offer, the Wangaratta Art Gallery has curated another inspiring and thought-provoking program of exhibitions for 2026. Gallery director Rachel Arndt said it will be a bumper year, starting with national touring exhibition Kait James: Red Flags, opening in Gallery 1 at the end of January and continuing through February. Since 2018, Ms James has been carving out a unique visual language based in the reappropriation of racialised products. Colloquially identified as ‘Aboriginalia’, these mass-produced, commercial objects range from souvenir tea towels and pennant flags to children’s dolls and ceramic figurines. In a practice of subversion, she embroiders into and on top of these products, embedding language and imagery to forge new narratives linked to contemporary political campaigns and debates. Kait James will be in conversation with exhibition curator, Warrnambool Art Gallery director Aaron Bradbrook, before the official opening is held on Friday, 30 January at 5pm. March brings a group show curated in collaboration with the gallery's interstate neighbours Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and the City of Moreton Bay Galleries in South East Queensland. The exhibition, Affording Truth, brings together new and existing work by 14 artists from across the country, who explore how we perceive and navigate truth in an era of global uncertainty, using the framework of affordances - the qualities of objects or environments that suggest or enable particular actions and interactions. Perceived, false or hidden, affordances are everywhere and key to how humans navigate the world. "We are thrilled that this regionally collaborative curatorial project will open here in Wang, before travelling to Wagga later in the year and Redcliffe in mid-2027," Ms Arndt said. "We have also received very exciting news about the funding of this project, which is still under embargo, but will substantially elevate the impact and reach of this exhibition. "Mid year we will have the ever popular Petite Miniature Textiles 2026, curated by artist Cara Johnson – whose work was seen in last year's Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award. "Cara Johnson’s craft-based practice interrogates tensions and narratives connected to the ways land is treated and used through material, intention and invested labour. "Her exhibition will ask artists to respond to the theme of ‘in the detail’, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the nuance and care that Cara brings to the selection." In spring, an exhibition called Tannic Bonds comes to Wangaratta – curated by independent curators Olivia Welch and Dr Megan Fizell. The exhibition draws together eight artists working across a range of media to consider environmental and cultural connections through material explorations of tannins, an organic compound present in most plant matter. Tannins, found in leaves, roots, bark, fruits, spices and seeds, assert their presence; they carry a strong, bitter taste and are known for their ability to colour and stain, penetrating materials with a saturated dye. The works within Tannic Bonds create connections between the seeping stains of tannic substances and the enduring bonds of intergenerational rituals and traditions that mark time, the body, and memory. Tannic Bonds is funded through Creative Australia, the Federal Government’s arts investment and advisory body. "Completing the year we will have a major solo presentation by our very own Susie Losch – whose work everyone will have seen in the gallery in various forms over many years," Ms Arndt said. "This will be Susie’s first solo exhibition at this scale with us, and we are certainly in for a treat as it will bring together significant and ambitious areas of her practice." The complementary program in Gallery 2 is just as diverse and includes explorations of colour across painting, drawing and textiles by Wollongong based Boni Cairncross and Canberra based James Lieutenant and Kate Vassallo, a significant body of work around the impact of the Beechworth Asylum by Melbourne based Carly Fischer, a major textile installation by Sydney based Ali Noble, works on paper by Echuca based emerging artist Ellen Lee and an installation by Kylie Stillman, who creates book sculptures and woodcarvings that speak to signs of life. In the WPACC Foyer Gallery, local talents will be showcased across painting and works on paper throughout the year.

Dynamic program of exhibitions coming to Wangaratta Art Gallery

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