Past Exhibitions

The Art of Making Sense

The Art of Making Sense is an exhibition of artworks drawn from the Cunningham Dax Collection created by individuals who have experienced mental illness and/or psychological trauma. The exhibition shows the multi-faceted nature of such art, focusing on the historical, aesthetic, biographical and psychological dimensions of the artists' creative works.

The exhibition includes over 70 creative works, mostly drawings on paper, but including paintings, collages, textiles and sculptures, created between the 1950s and today, many created in the context of creative art therapy. Historic photographs and artefacts provide a glimpse into the asylum experience in Victoria in the 1950's and 60's.

The exhibition is part of a broader research project which aims to develop an ethical, multi-dimensional framework for exhibiting art by people who experience mental illness and/or psychological trauma, and has been funded through an Australian Research Council Linkage grant.

Speaking Out

Speaking Out features artists who address head on the experience of mental illness or trauma through their art-making. The artists speak of their experience of mental illness in their everyday life. The works tell the very personal stories of experiences of treatment, isolation and stigma.

The exhibition features historical artworks created within psychiatric hospital art-making programs alongside works made by contemporary artists in their own studios. The works feature a range of media including painting, textiles, photography, drawing and collage. These works bring the complexity of the difficulties associated with the experience of mental illness into the public view and allow the artists to speak.

Click here to download the Speaking Out catalogue

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Creative Contexts

Creative Contexts is a new exhibition from the Cunningham Dax Collection featuring works created by people who have an experience of mental illness or trauma.

The works in this exhibition have been made in a variety of different contexts including institutional settings, private settings, therapy sessions, in community groups and in response to natural disasters. Creative Contexts explores the impact of the context in which the artwork has been made. This is a particularly relevant investigation for the Collection given that the works have been collected from a variety of settings over the past 60 years, from institutional settings in the 1950s to contemporary artworks donated by currently practising artists. The exhibition features new artworks recently acquired by the Collection.

Click here to download the Creative Contexts catalogue

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My Tsunami

My Tsunami was an exhibition of thirty drawings and paintings depicting the experience, aftermath and impact of the devastating 2004 tsunami experienced by a group of Sri Lankan children. The art resulted from an aid project implemented by two final-year medical students, Hannah Magree and Claire Stewart, who spent a month assisting in camps for survivors in three small villages in Sri Lanka in mid-2005. During this time they initiated, with sponsorship from the Cunningham Dax Collection, a program of ‘fun days' where children were encouraged to draw and paint. The exhibition was held to remind the community of the ongoing impact of the tsunami on those in the affected regions. The artwork is a testimony not only to the disaster and the suffering that resulted but also to the strength and hope that has sustained the people. This “innocent” artwork of children powerfully articulates what has been too painful to put into words.

Still Lives: Between Creativity and Shadowland

Latrobe Regional Gallery (1 July – 27 August 2006)
Warrnambool Art Gallery (29 Apr – 2 June 2006)
Horsham Art Gallery (13 Dec - 5 Feb 2006)
Swan Hill Regional Gallery (16 Sept - 30 October 2005)
Bundoora Homestead Art Centre (31 March - 29 May 2005)
Hawthorn Town Hall (31 Aug - 25 Sept 2004)
Burke Memorial Museum Beechworth (1 March - 31 May 2004)
Mildura Arts Centre (19 Sept – 26 October 2003)

Still Lives: Between Creativity and Shadowland explores the personal, social and clinical dimensions of depression and mania through the artworks of those suffering from these conditions. The works selected highlight the subjective experiences of these extreme mood states. The exhibition does not focus only on the “gloomy” side of mental illness. Works showing recovery from these pathological states are included. Most importantly, many of these works demonstrate the creativity of people who have mental illness.

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