CURRENT EXHIBITION

Traces of the Hand

4 March – 9 May 2026

Traces of the Hand is a cross-cultural ceramic exhibition developed through the Moree Arts Community Centre (MACCI). Bringing together the creative practices of Aunty Paula Duncan, Candice Paton, Tibby Duncan, Sandra O'Loughlin, Anna Duncan, and curator, Dr Moj Habibi, the exhibition reflects an ongoing studio practice shaped through community, care, and shared creativity.

Emerging from a collective process grounded in listening, memory, and the presence of hands working together – each piece bears the imprint of the hand that formed it, revealing gesture, presence, and the quiet strength of shared making. With the generous support and guidance of Elders, the exhibition has developed with deep respect for ancestral knowledge and the living cultures of Country.

A quiet dialogue between Persian and First Nations cultural traditions informs the exhibition. While shaped by distinct histories, both carry enduring narratives of survival, spirituality, connection to land, and the preservation of cultural knowledge across generations.

Please join the artists for the launch event at the University Gallery on Saturday 7 March from 2pm.

^{IMAGE: Dr Moj Habibi and Aunty Paula Duncan,  Ancestral Resonance, 2023, Hand built and hand  painted ceramic, 47 × 26 × 24 cm. Photography courtesy Bruce Tindale.}

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION

Welcome to the Void: Community Voices in  Post-Mining Landscapes

13 – 27 February 2026

This immersive exhibition invites you into the heart of the Hunter Valley, NSW, where landscapes bear the deep scars of open-cut coal mining. The exhibition presents material collected through ethnographic and arts-based methods with people living in the Hunter Valley’s mining country. It explores how local communities experience and respond to environmental disturbance and how mining legacies and post-mining landscapes, particularly so-called final voids, transform into hopeful futures or haunting remnants of extraction.

Featuring a rich tapestry of participant-created artworks, collaborative murals, creative interpretations of field data, walking interview photographs, and an ethnographic film, the exhibition offers intimate, grounded perspectives on life after mining. These pieces illuminate the emotional and cultural dimensions of post-industrial landscapes – elements often overlooked in policy and planning.

Viewers are invited to engage with themes of place, memory, and transformation, not through conventional research formats, but through the raw, expressive power of community storytelling and creative expression. The exhibition becomes a space for reflection and reckoning, where questions of environmental justice and the possibility of alternative futures take centre stage.

By amplifying community voices and embracing artistic collaboration, the exhibition fosters dialogue, healing, and renewed connection to land. It is both a tribute to resilience and a call to imagine a more just and regenerative path forward.

_{This project is conducted by researchers at the University of Newcastle and is funded by the Australian Research Council.
Hedda.Askland@newcastle.edu.au / 0405 066 470}

_{IMAGE: Emma Florence May, Void of layered meanings, 2025, digital drawing}