Greetings from Wollongong
Curated by Kaylene Milner with Louise Brand, Aneshka Mora and Daniel Mudie Cunningham
14 June - 31 August 2025
Wollongong has long been a nucleus of social consciousness, where the power of grassroots activism meets the force of visual culture. The working-class roots of the Illawarra region, deeply intertwined with steel-city labour politics and diverse communities, have nurtured a vibrant political and creative scene.
Greetings from Wollongong celebrates this rich history, highlighting the intersection of protest and politics with the vital energies of party and play. Wollongong-born designer, musician and WAH-WAH fashion label founder, Kaylene Milner, leads a curatorium to unpack this through the WAG collection rounded out with a selection of invited artists from beyond the Illawarra.
Iconic collection works from Redback Graphix (1979–1994) and a survey of the films of local director Mary Callaghan (1955–2016) form the central focus from which a larger group show emerges, examining the aesthetic language of social change here and elsewhere, past and present.
Through music, film, fashion, and art, this WAG-WAH collaboration explores the enduring spirit of resistance and expression that defines Wollongong’s identity as part of a broader national conversation about social and political change.
Artists
Mary Callaghan
Redback Graphix: Michael Callaghan and Gregor Cullen; including Alison Alder, Mary Callaghan, Mark Cole, Leonie Lane, Percy Leason, Marie McMahon, Deborah Nesbitt, Manuel Pamkal, Sharon Pusell, Nick Southall, Ann Stephen, Jeff Stewart, Ruth Waller, Ray Young
Plus
Kevin Butler, Sarah Contos, Gavin Coote, Maree Faulkner, Kait James, Kate Just, Warwick Keen, Deborah Kelly, Fiona MacDonald, Wendy Murray, Nell, Ovuhm Collective, Tom Page, Sharon Pusell and Nick Southall, Kirli Saunders, Olwen Evans Wilson, Women’s Domestic Needlework Group: Marie McMahon, Frances (Budden) Phoenix
Presented by Wollongong Art Gallery with the support of WAH-WAH Australia, the Keir Foundation, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, and the University of Wollongong.
Additional documents
Nick Southall Scrapbook: This scrapbook, by Nick Southall, is a vivid time capsule of the 1980s and 1990s, meticulously assembled from clippings and news articles that capture the cultural, political, and social pulse of two transformative decades
Nick Southall Scrapbook PDF, 11686.24 KB
Related events
Image: Redback Graphix, Michael Callaghan, Mary Callaghan, designer, Greetings From Wollongong Postcard – Version 1 (detail), 1979, colour screenprint on paper, 16.7 x 21 cm. Collection Wollongong Art Gallery. Gift of Micky Allan 2020.