South West Biennial 2026
From Saturday 21 March 2026
To Sunday 19 July 2026
The Bunbury Regional Art Gallery is proud to present the South West Biennial 2026: Tracework. The inaugural exhibition will be centred at BRAG and will extend across to the six partner venues throughout the south western regions of Australia. Conceived as both a cartography and a crossroads, the Biennial functions as a mapping of the region’s creative landscape and a meeting point where local and visiting artists intersect. Together, their works trace the vibrant connections between people, place, and materiality - shaping the Biennial as a collective act of remembrance, making, and renewal.
Tracework views art as an act of staying with what is both absent and what remains. The exhibition broadly explores the notion of the trace - a line drawn across paper, the press of a fingertip into clay, the imprint of one life upon another - a record of contact, memory, and care. These traces remind us that creation is never solitary - that each gesture connects us to the people, materials, and places that shape who we are. Through image, material, and installation, each work in the exhibition holds a record of encounter - the trace of the artist in their medium, the individual in their community, and our species on the planet.
With Bunbury at its epicentre, these connections ripple outward throughout the regions - between communities, generations, and their environments. Tracework attends to these relationships: the visible and invisible threads that bind a region together.
Curated by Dr Michael Bianco and Dionne Hooyberg, the Biennial includes a survey exhibition showcasing works by 28 artists from Australia’s south western regions, in addition to several solo and collaborative installations by internationally acclaimed artists Jacobus Capone, Olga Cironis, Amber Cronin and Tom Borgas, Sharyn Egan, and Andy Quilty.
Events + Workshops
South West Biennial offers a range of events and workshops for artists and the community. Starting on 21 March with a special VIP Preview Event (by invitation only), followed by the public Opening Night event, and on 22 March, BRAG hosts an Artist Brunch featuring talks, tours, and networking opportunities.
More exciting events and workshops to be announced throughout the exhibition...
South West Survey Artists
Amanda Bell • Carly Le Cerf + Jean Michel Maujean • Cher Shackleton • Creed Birch • Deidre Robb • Gisela Zuchner-Mogall • Heloise Roberts + Moira Fearby • James Walker • Jenny Scott • Lori Pensini • Louise Tasker • Lyn Nixon • Marcia Leonard • Margaret Sanders • Matt Almera • Melissa Boughey • Michelle Slarke • Nichole Lubcke • Rachel Falls-Williams • Ruth Halbert + Elisa Markes-Young • Samantha Dennison • Sophie Brennan, Ned Reilly + Lyndon Kidman • Tara Boulevard
Partner Venues
