Rennie Ellis (1940–2003) was as a pivotal figure in Australian visual culture. He was both a documentary photographer and a prominent presence in advertising, television and photography. Ellis was known for his candid documentary images of contemporary Australian life. His photographs of social events, such as music festivals, fashion parades or nightclubs are iconic, but his practice also encompassed the grittier side of life. In his AFL series, Ellis skilfully portrays the nation’s passion for the game, extending his lens beyond the boundary line to showcase the spirited fans alongside the on-field action.Donated by the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Lauraine Diggins OAM

Donated by Peter Cox

Donated through the Commonwealth Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Samuel Condon

Carol Porter’s artwork Don’t get mad, get elected! features a woman towering over Parliament House in Canberra. Below her, tiny suit-clad politicians run screaming as she holds one of their colleagues upside-down, and another tumbles from her grasp. The look on her face is cool and determined; it is a reversal of the more common horror poster trope of ‘damsel in distress’. Porter says of the work: ‘It was tapping into the fact that women should get into power and make a difference’. Porter is a contemporary political cartoonist and poster artist who has worked out of Melbourne since the 1970s. She uses humour in her social commentary on various Australian issues and is well known for the prints she produced at RedPlanet – the alternative poster press inspired by an anti-elitist mission to reconnect art with communities. The poster was commissioned by the Victorian Women’s Trust. It first appeared on Melbourne billboards in 1997, a year after the federal election that swept John Howard to power.Donated by the artist

Donated by Paul Batt

Louise Paramor says, “I just love colour and playing around with it, it makes me feel good. I get a kick out of harmonising colour in conjunction with form. I think if there was more finely tuned colour in the world it would be a better place. There exists a lot of untamed colour in the everyday and to me this is often creates a feeling that is the opposite of uplifting.” In this work, Paramor creates a utopian building from collaged pieces of paper, which have been painted in planes of coloured enamel. Often these collages become sculptures, for which Paramor is mainly known. Andy Gomez writes of Boomtown, “Louise Paramor invites us into her own fabricated domain, where colours are coherent and vivid, buildings are unique and non-conformist, where public sculpture exists for the sake of form, colour, line, and levity. There is an inherent optimism at work here, exalting the accomplishments and ingenuity of the urban sprawl and the enforced participation of a shared culture and experience that offers.”

Hoda Afshar's 2018 body of work, "Remain," offers a forthright and unapologetic political commentary on Australia's border protection policy, shedding light on its impact on human rights. This collection comprises a film and a series of photographic portraits that chronicle the stories of stateless men who chose to stay on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, even after the closure of the immigration detention centre in October 2017. In the accompanying film, the experiences of these men are conveyed through episodic fragments, narrated with a mix of lyrical and brutal voiceovers. Some express themselves through poetry, others through song, while some recall the riots and suicides. Set against the backdrop of a picturesque landscape featuring lush foliage and crystal-clear water—a stark contrast to the harsh realities described—the emotional impact of the work is intensified. It creates a simultaneous sense of beauty and horror. The photographic portraits of the same individuals are equally compelling. Positioned prominently against a dark backdrop, these subjects assert their presence, emphasizing their right to be seen. The deliberate simplicity of these portraits serves as a powerful political statement, countering the invisibility imposed by the act of detention. Afshar metaphorically acknowledges the struggles faced by these men, depicting them contending with the elements—fire, water, and earth—yet never questioning their inherent humanity. Here we see Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish Iranian writer whose memoir ‘No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from the Manus Prison’ won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Literature and the Prize for Non-Fiction in 2019. Boochani was held in detention on Manus Island from 2013 until the centre’s closure in 2017 and was forced to remain on the island in a stateless condition.

Donated by the artist

Primarily working across painting and digital art, Lazzaro’s artworks are characterised by figures of wrestlers, vampires, zombies, toys and subjects from imaginary worlds. Often using gouache, acrylic and paint pen, Lazzaro’s imagery blends sinister interpretations with a quirky sense of humour. Lazzarro’s works usually depict historical figures, pop-culture icons or people he has met or seen. This work depicts two women holding hands. Lazzaro has been a regular studio artist at Arts Project Australia since 2004. Arts Project Australia supports artists with intellectual disabilities through their studio and gallery, promoting artists’ work and advocating for their inclusion in contemporary art practice.

Dorothy Berry paints and draws with great energy, using vibrant colours and thick, gestural strokes of paint and pastel. Her work is usually a form of portraiture, often depicting women or birds. In this portrait, Berry has depicted the late American jazz singer Billie Holiday. Berry has been a regular studio artist at Arts Project Australia since 1985. Arts Project Australia supports artists with intellectual disabilities through their studio and gallery, promoting artists’ work and advocating for their inclusion in contemporary art practice.

Peta Clancy is a descendent of the Bangerang people from South-Eastern Australia. She explores hidden histories of colonisation in Australia. Through manipulating photographic prints, she reconstructs these hidden histories in a contemporary setting. In 2018, Clancy was awarded the inaugural Fostering Koorie Art and Culture grant from the Koorie Heritage Trust. The grant enabled her to collaborate with the Dja Dja Wurrung community to create a body of work investigating massacre sites on Dja Dja Wurrung country. The exhibition Undercurrent at the Koorie Heritage Trust focussed on a massacre site submerged under water. Clancy says of the exhibition and this work: ‘I explored this site as a metaphor for the hidden history of many massacres throughout Australia and the denial of this aspect of our history and the trauma these sites evoke’.

Donated by the artist

Sha Sarwari is a multidisciplinary artist who works in sculpture, installation, photography, and performance. A Moth to a Flame is a commentary on the often-tragic dilemma that refugees encounter when escaping their country of origin to seek asylum. This piece comes from a series of works, also titled A Moth to a Flame, where this metaphor is used to show how the hopefulness of a new life can result in a dangerous, sometimes fatal illusion. In this work, Sawari aims to give a voice to the refugee experience, to reconcile cultural identity, new belonging and resilience in the face of trauma.

Donated by the artist

Donation by the artist

Born in Tehran before moving to Australia in 1985, Nostograph 1 is part of Hootan Heydari’s enquiry into ideas of displacement, memory and disruption. Nostograph 1 is a key work from Hootan Heydari’s solo exhibition Yeki Bood, Yeki Nabood, which was held at the Counihan Gallery in 2022. ‘Yeki bood, yeki nabood’ means ‘one was there, one was absent’ in Farsi. It’s a phrase used to begin a story, similar to ‘once upon a time’. Yeki Bood, Yeki Nabood explored the compulsion to return to the past; to process trauma, but also to resist historical and cultural erasure. Yet memory is slippery; repeated exposure to images of the past blur and conflate with the artist’s memory. In Nostograph 1, Heydari attempts to remember and outline rooms and spaces from his childhood, as described by delicate strips of gold leaf. The gold leaf overlays an archival photograph of a crowd gathered during a mass demonstration during the 1979 Islamic revolution. In Nostograph 1, personal and public histories intersect.