Canberra puts on a show as 40 new works mark the NGA’s 40th

A sculpture by Tracey Emin is just one of the exciting acquisitions to be seen at the National Gallery of Australia in the city’s season of art.

NGA director Nick Mitzevich in front of segments of a work by US contemporary-art star Kara Walker, ‘Your World is About to Change’ (2019). The work was puchased by the NGA this year for the 40th anniversary program.

Dan F StapletonWriter

Oct 12, 2022 – 5.00am

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

An enormous gun made from metals and biodegradable polyester, an outsized bronze of a sleeping figure inspired by the artist’s insomnia and a sprawling series of photographs documenting drug use and sex during the HIV/AIDs pandemic are just three of the 40 birthday presents the National Gallery of Australia is giving itself this month.

Those works – by Matthew Barney, Tracey Emin and Nan Goldin, respectively – form part of a 40th-anniversary acquisition spree that director Nick Mitzevich describes as “unapologetically bold”.