Re/Connect
1 May 2024 - 19 December 2025
The Dax Centre, in partnership with RMIT University, is proud to present Re/Connect. This major group exhibition features twelve recent RMIT School of Art graduates in creative response to the Cunningham Dax Collection.
As a part of The Dax Centre’s annual collection programming, Re/Connect invites emerging artists to explore personal and artistic connections with Collection artworks.
In asking the artists to examine ways in which they identify with collection artworks and artist stories, be it in a material or aesthetic sense, or in parallels in lived experience, the exhibition showcases a wide cross section of the Cunningham Dax Collection.
Through a diverse range of mediums, each artist brings their unique voice to the dialogue and creates a dynamic conversation that bridges the generational and thematic gaps of the collection.
By pairing emerging contemporary voices with the enduring legacy of the Cunningham Dax Collection, Re/Connect highlights the power of art in fostering understanding and connection within the broader conversation on mental health.
Exhibiting Artists: Molly Jane Baker, Karen Yvette Clarke, Sophia Xeros-Constantinides, James Dickson, Rehana Dowler, Graeme Doyle, Kate Driscoll, Kirra Jeram, Celline Mercado, Holly Clark-Milligan, Rosa Niran, Patricia Stewart, Bo-dene Stieler, Renee Sutton, Sarah Vandepeer, Aiko Van Hay Yuen, Alia Qasam Zada, Kate Zizys, Ann Zomer, Angelica Zumpo.
Internal Landscapes
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18 June - 29 August 2025
The Dax Centre proudly presents Internal Landscapes, in collaboration with The Wilin Centre and The University of Melbourne, featuring four emerging First Nations artists - Alena Landers, Anna Ellis, Laiken Jackson and Tupun Wultatinyeri - who each identify with a lived experience of mental health or trauma. The exhibition explores the important role that creative practice plays in each artist’s mental wellbeing, especially in processing emotions and experiences, creating a sense of purpose and motivation, feeling in control, and connecting to Country and culture.
With a strong focus on repetition and meditative processes, the artists find healing and clarity through their practices. This can be discovered in the meticulous line work in Wultatinyeri’s representations of Country, the methodical production of Lander’s hundreds of hand-made paper works, the rehearsal of movement required in the development of Jackson’s performances and the therapeutic nature of needle felting as demonstrated by Ellis.
Internal Landscapes honors the strength, depth, and innovation of First Nations ways of being, knowing, creating and caring for self and spirit.
Supported by City of Melbourne Arts Grants.
A Subtle Omen
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20 March - 5 June 2025
In this solo exhibition, Frances explores elements of their gender identity, especially focusing on their relationship with self-love, and how their lived experience with anxiety manifests in the body. Cannon reflects on their upbringing as a girl and how that has informed their non-binary queer identity.
The title 'A Subtle Omen' refers to moments in Cannon’s upbringing that were expressions of their queerness within the context of a Christian household and heteronormative society. Through this exhibition, we hope to highlight the importance of creative expression to mental wellbeing, especially for the queer community.
