Your guide to the best arts experiences happening across Victoria this month

Fans of football - an exhibition from the AFL official photographer is happening in regional Victoria.

Whilst light displays take over our landscape for immersive art experiences at the likes of Geelong Botanic Gardens, Bendigo’s Rosalind Park, and even Adventure Park, galleries are looking at the slower side of art. From conversations to the photography behind the big moments, and a durational art making work, galleries are inviting people to enjoy the less strobe heavy interactions with art.

Explore this months art guide below.

Keep up to date with all things arts, exhibitions and stage here.

 

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Pecha Kucha Night

When: THU 09 JUL

Where: Platform Arts, Geelong

Platform Arts invites artists and collectives from Western Regional Victoria to open Pecha Kucha nights, conversation starters to share practice and connect with the broader arts community. The sessions support an artist-led approach, fostering collaboration and programming ideas. They include shared meals and encourage radical hospitality. Slides must be PDF. Free, quarterly, hosted by Amber Smith with sign-up on arrival. 

Groundswell

When: Until 19 JUL

Where: Castlemaine Art Museum

In order to effect change, a groundswell of opinion, emotion and new thinking is needed. This exhibition brings together artists committed to environmental, cultural, personal and political change, evolving from earlier projects honouring the women who founded the gallery in the early 20th century. It foregrounds networks, community and participation. Contemporary artists include Arkeria Armstrong, Kate Just, Ika White and others. 

Framed in Footy: AFL Photography by Michael Willson

When: Until 4 OCT

Where: Horsham Art Gallery

Some moments in footy become bigger than the game. Michael Willson, the AFL’s Chief Photographer, captures the intensity, passion and emotion of Australian Football on and off the field. This exhibition offers insight into the game, documenting iconic moments, sportsmanship and personal stories across men’s and women’s leagues through a lens shaped by deep knowledge of both photography and sport. 

 

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Joanne Linsdell: My Shadow Board

When: 18 JUL – 30 AUG

Where: Art Gallery of Ballarat

Ballarat artist Joanne Linsdell, who grew up on a fruit orchard near Bacchus Marsh, returns to her late father’s workshop, finding inspiration in its familiar tools and “shadow boards”. Over five years she transforms these everyday objects into fine ceramic works. My Shadow Board reflects grief, joy, and the enduring value of hands-on making and shared knowledge. 

Gosia Wlodarczak: Repetition

When: From 28 JUN

Where: Shepparton Art Museum

Over ten consecutive days, Gosia Wlodarczak will transform SAM’s windows into a living drawing surface as part of her Frost Drawings series. Working in real time with white markers, she responds to light, visitors and the surrounding environment. The layered marks build into a dense visual record of observation, time and presence, inviting audiences to witness drawing as performance. 

Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel

When: Until 11 OCT

Where: Geelong Gallery

In its 130th year, Geelong Gallery presents Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art Dealer Among the Artists, its most ambitious international exhibition. Featuring over 70 works by Monet, Renoir, Morisot and Pissarro alongside overlooked second-generation Impressionists, the exhibition traces Durand-Ruel’s pivotal role as a dealer who championed the movement. Rare loans, private collections and immersive reconstructions reveal Impressionism’s evolution and legacy.