CURRENT 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}

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION

FRAMED: The Sampson Collection

05 November 2025 – 07 February 2026

FEATURING WORK BY:

Nick Barlow / Mark Berryman / Charles Blackman / Dino Consalvo / James Drinkwater / John Earle / Brett McMahon / David Middlebrook / Rachel Milne / Nigel Milsom / John Olsen / Gloria Pannka / Ivy Pareroultja / Alfonso Puautjimi

Established in 1965, the University of Newcastle Art Collection is an active asset that is central to the University's cultural identity. With a long-standing commitment to collecting work by significant Australian artists, the Collection has a particular focus on artists from the Newcastle and Hunter region, as well as on works by First Nations artists – playing a vital role in ensuring regional stories and diverse creative voices are represented and celebrated.

In the University's 60th anniversary year, a landmark donation of 80 artworks by Aaron and Samantha Sampson has been made to the Collection. The donated works include pieces by prominent Newcastle-based artists, many of whom have strong connections to the University as teaching staff, alumni, and exhibiting artists. This generous contribution significantly enhances the Collection and highlights the vibrancy of artistic practice in the region. It reflects the strength of community support for the arts and the enduring legacy of the University’s commitment to creative and cultural engagement.

The University Gallery Summer Exhibition Hours for this exhibition are Wednesday to Friday 10–5pm.