Aussie artists who won a $US25,000 art prize take provocative work to Sydney

Aussie artists who won a $US25,000 art prize take provocative work to Sydney

‘There is, as Daniel Browning recognised in 2010, “no house style” for proppaNOW. Their work covers photography, painting, screen-based work, mixed media installation and sculpture – in radically different styles.

But the work shares a set of deeply held values and reflects the energetic and critical conversations they have shared for decades. It is infused with what new member Lily Eather calls the group’s “wicked sense of humour”.’

Sydney Morning Herald writer Arlie Alizzi on OCCURRENT AFFAIR on at NAS Galleries.

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What's happening at the National Art School on 6 September? RSVP to our Open Day today to find out. (Link in bio)
Hear artist James Nguyen (@jamesnguyens) discuss the process of his artwork ‘Homeopathies_where new trees grow’ (2025), a site-specific installation created for The Neighbour at the Gate, now on at NAS Gallery.

In response to the exhibition, Nguyen created a large-scale suspended textile, dyed with introduced weeds and contaminated mud collected along the Duck River and Parramatta River in Sydney. These local sites, like many places in Vietnam, continue to be contaminated by Agent Orange, dioxins and toxic leachates that account for the industrial scale manufacturing of chemical weapons along Homebush Bay.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based, Vietnamese Australian artist positions his personal experiences and perspectives in dialogue with others in his interdisciplinary practice, moving between live and online performance, video, drawing and installations. This work was made in conjunction with Nguyen’s aunt, Nguyễn Thị Kim Nhung, and uncle, Nguyễn Công Chính, who you can hear in conversation with the artist in the Artist Talks archive on our website.

The Neighbour at the Gate is now on until Saturday 18 October 2025. 11am – 5pm, Monday to Sunday. Plan your visit at the link in bio.

The Neighbour at the Gate has been made possible with the generous support of the NSW Government through its Blockbusters Funding initiative.
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