Opening hours: Monday - Friday, 10am - 4pm and Saturday & Sunday 10am - 3pm 

Exhibition Dates: 31 October 2026 to 24 January 2027 

Artists: Tony Albert / Sal Cooper / Destiny Deacon / Karla Dickens / FOOT (Connor Ovenden-Shaw) / Hannah Gartside / Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran / Rosemarie Reber / Nick Selenitsch / Kaylene Whiskey / Peter Waples-Crowe 

PLAY IS...

A way in.

A way out.

A way to break the rules.

PLAY explores how contemporary artists use playfulness, humour, and the language of games to approach subjects that are often difficult, divisive, or emotionally charged. The exhibition proposes that play is not a retreat from seriousness, but a strategy for engaging with it; a way to disarm, reimagine, and reconnect. 

Through irony, satire, absurdity, and acts of joyful rebellion, the artists in this exhibition blur the boundaries between fun and critique. They draw on the visual languages of pop culture, cartoons, and childlike imagination; deploying familiar, accessible forms to speak to issues of identity, power, colonial histories, diaspora, and human vulnerability. Play here is never innocent. It is a knowing strategy, one that lowers defences precisely in order to ask harder questions.

The exhibition unfolds through overlapping thematic threads, tracing play as a form of resistance, a vessel for cultural continuity, and an open invitation for participation. Works range from parody and political satire to the playful storytelling embedded in living cultural traditions; from anthropomorphic sculptures that use tenderness to unsettle, to interactive and gamified works that position the audience as co-creator. In each case, play operates as both form and function, shaping not only what is communicated, but how it is felt and received.

PLAY reflects Wyndham’s commitment to programming and collecting that speaks to the diversity, dynamism, and cultural richness of its community. The exhibition brings together artists whose practices engage with diasporic identity, First Nations storytelling, and the full complexity of contemporary Australian life, offering entry points for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Image credit: Kaylene Whiskey, Ngura Pukulpa (Happy Place) 2022. Image courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley Gallery.