FUTURE COUNTRY | Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions 2026
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FUTURE COUNTRY | COUNTRY ROAD + NGV FIRST NATIONS COMMISSIONS
The Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions is a national, biennial mentorship and exhibition program that supports emerging Australian First Nations artists and designers. This initiative brings together eight emerging creatives with leading industry mentors, fostering a unique opportunity for both artistic and professional growth. Through this collaboration, mentors offer guidance, encouragement and expertise, supporting the artists to realise their most ambitious work to date.
📍 The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
🗓️ 20 March – 13 September 2026
🎟️ Free entry, every day
In 2026, FUTURE COUNTRY – the second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions – invites artists to look to the future while simultaneously acknowledging the past. Working across diverse mediums and innovative practices, the selected artists respond to the exhibition’s key themes of ancestral memory, truth-telling, restorying, and future-making.
The resulting commissions explore and reflect non-linear notions of time, honour intergenerational knowledges, and an embodied and relational understanding of place. Collectively, the works artists’ new commissions featured in FUTURE COUNTRY convey the strength and breadth of contemporary Australian First Nations art and design practice across the country.
FUTURE COUNTRY honours and celebrates land, legacy, community, and cultural continuity by facilitating mentorships and providing a national platform. Presented by the National Gallery of Victoria and supported by Country Road Brands, the exhibition offers audiences a powerful opportunity to engage with First Nations knowledges, perspectives and futurities.
Discover the full list of Mentors and Artists here. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/future-country-country-road-first-nations-commissions/
📷 Image: Doreen Jinggarrabarra and Stephanie Ali in Maningrida, NT for the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions: FUTURE COUNTRY. Photo: Alana Holmberg
The Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions is a national, biennial mentorship and exhibition program that supports emerging Australian First Nations artists and designers. This initiative brings together eight emerging creatives with leading industry mentors, fostering a unique opportunity for both artistic and professional growth. Through this collaboration, mentors offer guidance, encouragement and expertise, supporting the artists to realise their most ambitious work to date.
📍 The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
🗓️ 20 March – 13 September 2026
🎟️ Free entry, every day
In 2026, FUTURE COUNTRY – the second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions – invites artists to look to the future while simultaneously acknowledging the past. Working across diverse mediums and innovative practices, the selected artists respond to the exhibition’s key themes of ancestral memory, truth-telling, restorying, and future-making.
The resulting commissions explore and reflect non-linear notions of time, honour intergenerational knowledges, and an embodied and relational understanding of place. Collectively, the works artists’ new commissions featured in FUTURE COUNTRY convey the strength and breadth of contemporary Australian First Nations art and design practice across the country.
FUTURE COUNTRY honours and celebrates land, legacy, community, and cultural continuity by facilitating mentorships and providing a national platform. Presented by the National Gallery of Victoria and supported by Country Road Brands, the exhibition offers audiences a powerful opportunity to engage with First Nations knowledges, perspectives and futurities.
Discover the full list of Mentors and Artists here. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/future-country-country-road-first-nations-commissions/
📷 Image: Doreen Jinggarrabarra and Stephanie Ali in Maningrida, NT for the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions: FUTURE COUNTRY. Photo: Alana Holmberg
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Where is it happening?
Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Atrium, 2 Princes Brg, Southbank VIC 3004, Australia, Melbourne
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherNational Gallery of Victoria
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