Sydney Contemporary 2026 | First Nations

New bodies of work by four leading artists will offer a powerful welcome to our 10th anniversary Sydney Contemporary presentation, with their distinct perspectives reflecting the strength and diversity of Australian First Nations art practice today.

Senior Ngan’gikurrungurr artist Regina Pilawuk Wilson returns to the fair with a collection of large-scale paintings emblematic of the globally celebrated practice that has established her as one of Australia’s most important living artists. A seminal figure in the story of First Nations art, Wilson co-founded the Peppimenarti Community and helped establish Durrmu Arts, with her cultural leadership most recently affirmed at this year’s NAIDOC Awards. Wilson’s presence at Sydney Contemporary follows recent acquisitions of her paintings by the Australian Parliament House Art Collection and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts – accessions that extend her presence in important collections globally, including the British Museum and LACMA. The Peabody Essex acquisition stemmed from her acclaimed showing in Michael Reid’s 2025 survey exhibition in Washington, D.C., for which she travelled to the US and was received by the Ambassador to the United States in the room named in her honour at the Australian Embassy.

Our Sydney Contemporary presentation will be anchored by a monumental suspended installation of tessellating etched metal works by Gaypalani Waṉambi. The Yolŋu artist’s intricately etched depictions of Marrakulu clan honey stories will unfold across a shimmering constellation of reclaimed and reimagined metal road signs in her first showing since she was awarded this year’s Wynne Prize for The Waṉambi Tree at the Art Gallery of New South Wales – an accolade that followed her historic triumph at the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, where she received the $100,000 Telstra Art Award for the sprawling Burwu, blossom. Waṉambi’s Sydney Contemporary exhibition will soon be followed by her inclusion in the NGV Triennial, where her installation The River of Honey will receive its first public outing since it was shown by Michael Reid at Melbourne Art Fair and acquired for the NGV Collection.

Joining Wilson and Waṉambi are Yankunytjatjara artist Betty Chimney and celebrated Yolŋu artist Djirrirra Wunuŋmurra Yukuwa. Chimney returns to the fair amid an extraordinary period of institutional recognition: her work is currently on view at the National Gallery of Australia in the landmark APY Lands exhibition Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country and at Rockhampton Museum of Art as a finalist in the Gold Award, following her fourth Wynne Prize shortlisting earlier this year. Wunuŋmurra brings the singular visual language that has established her as one of the most accomplished contemporary artists working with the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre at Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land.

For enquiries, please contact hughholm@michaelreid.com.au