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Northern Centre for Contemporary Art

Now showing: IncarcerNation, 5 August - 26 September 2026
Gallery hours: Wednesday - Friday, 10am - 4pm | Saturday, 8am - 2pm
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04/09/2026

The first and last voices you will hear when entering and exiting IncarcerNation are those of First Nations kids who have spent time in detention centres.

Code Black/Riot exposes how youth detention systems target and violate the human rights of First Nations children in Australia. Taking its name from the language used within these institutions, the work presents interviews with children and staff, interspersed with film taken of the subjects at play, revealing the violence inherent in a system that works to deprive children of a future.

The crisis of mass incarceration of First Nations youth in Australia is an issue that demands not only national attention, but also collective action.

Also part of the Code Black/Riot project is an original text from Behrouz Boochani in which the writer reflects on his lived experience inside an Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island and the parallels he sees with the system of First Nations youth detention.

NCCA is grateful to our lenders for allowing us to exhibit this work. Courtesy of the artists, Biennale of Sydney, Buxton Contemporary and Milani Gallery

Curated by Djon Mundine OAM, Don Christophersen, Jo Holder (The Cross Art Projects) and Petrit Abazi - IncarcerNation runs until 26 September

Hoda Afshar هدا افشار
Vernon Ah Kee
Behrouz Boochaniبهروز بوچانی

Code Black/Riot, 2025
Four-channel digital video installation, colour, sound
33 mins 
📸: 1-3 Nicholas Gouldhurst ; 4-6 jackington

25/08/2026

✨2026 MEMBERS EXHIBITION - ENTRIES NOW OPEN✨

This year’s theme is (IN)FINITE.

Time doesn’t move in straight lines. It rushes, stalls, and loops back on itself and we measure it in numbers, as if it were fixed. But not all infinities are equal in size.

This year we invite NCCA artist members to explore how we hold, shape, and are shaped by time.

Forms available via our bio, website, newsletter, online and printable.

Entries close Monday 16 November, 5pm.

13/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Sunday for the first round of public programs for IncarcerNation. Two sessions across one morning under the trees at Vimy Lane — art history, advocacy and artists working in and around prisons — and a generous, engaged crowd for all of it.

Thanks to our guest speakers Maurice O’Riordan, Gary Lee, Don Christophersen, Jo Holder, Nick Espie, Beth Wild and Shahleena Musk.

More to come in September.

IncarcerNation is open until 26 September.

📸 Regis Martin, Zoë Slee and Petrit Abazi

08/08/2026

IncarcerNation Public Programs — this Sunday 9 August at NCCA, Vimy Lane, Parap.

Three sessions across one morning, bringing artists, lawyers and historians into conversation about incarceration and justice in the Northern Territory.

9:30AM — UNTOLD DARWIN: Truth to Art History. Gary Lee and Don Christophersen in conversation, chaired by Maurice O’Riordan. Presented courtesy of Agency Projects.

10:30AM — Truth to Power: Evidence-based advocacy. A panel on creativity’s role in communicating serious issues, chaired by Jo Holder with Beth Wild (NT Criminal Lawyers Association), Nick Espie (NATSILS) and a guest speaker from NAAJA.

11:30AM — Truth to Context: Artists working in and around prisons. A floortalk with Mathew Dargan, Sara Maiorino and Georgie Mattingley, chaired by Petrit Abazi.

Free.

06/08/2026

The photos are in, the gallery is open. We appreciate everyone who turned up on Tuesday night for the launch of ‘IncarcerNation’.

We were honoured to have Gary Lee welcome us to his Country with stories of his childhood in Parap, before Ben Grimes, CEO of NAAJA, and Rocket Bretherton from the Justice Reform Initiative opened the exhibition.

Huge thanks to all the artists without whom this exhibition would never have existed.

And big ups to NCCA Board, staff and volunteers who help amplify these important narratives through their work.

📸 Jack Bullen

29/07/2026

EXHIBITION LAUNCH
Our major exhibition ‘IncarcerNation’ opens this
Tuesday 4 August, 6pm

Presented in partnership with The Cross Art Projects, Sydney, and curated by Djon Mundine OAM, Don Nawurlany Christophersen, Jo Holder and Petrit Abazi.

IncarcerNation responds to urgent conversations on the carceral system, justice and systemic inequality in the Northern Territory and across Australia.

Speakers: Gary Lee, Artist; Ben Grimes, CEO, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA); Rocket Bretherton, NT Coordinator, Justice Reform Initiative

Participating artists to be announced soon.

Watch this space!✨

10/07/2026

It’s the second-last day of MARKED.

Today we’re featuring two films sitting opposite each other in the gallery.

A Sunday, Well Spent by the late Rico Adjurn was made at a moment when very few people were documenting graffiti in the Northern Territory. Through his filming style and music, Adjurn captures the energy and atmosphere of that era.

Facing it is City Streets and Drains by Lukas Bendel — an immersive multichannel work commissioned for this exhibition, taking viewers on a journey through the graffiti and mural spaces around Darwin.

Rico Adjurn (1979–2024)
A Sunday, Well Spent, 2012
Music, filming, recording and editing by Broaden City
Single-channel video, 7 min 37 sec

Lukas Bendel (born 1976)
City Streets and Drains, 2026
270-degree multichannel video and drone footage, 29 min

MARKED closes 2pm this Saturday.

📸 PHOTOGRAPHER | AUSTRALIA and Violet Bond

08/07/2026

It’s the final week of MARKED, and today we’re celebrating the three murals commissioned for the exhibition.

Featuring work by Rhenz , Cyan & Mikaela and Tikls — each a snapshot of a different aspect of mural and street art culture in the NT.

MARKED closes this Saturday 11 July at 2pm. Last chance to see it.

📸 Violet Bond and PHOTOGRAPHER | AUSTRALIA

03/07/2026

It’s the second-last week of MARKED, and this week we’re highlighting where it all began: the Honey Ant Mural.

Painted at the Papunya School in 1971, the Honey Ant Mural marked the beginning of the Western Desert movement of contemporary Aboriginal art. Its creation shifted public perception, prompting new recognition of Aboriginal cultural expression in shared space. The mural continues to influence artists across generations and cultures, ensuring young people grow up surrounded by art and stories grounded in community, Country and knowledge.

Mr Patterns, 2004
Directed by John Hughes
Produced by Ronin Films
Filmed in Papunya, Northern Territory
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
Single-channel video, 5 min 17 sec (excerpts)

📸 Zoë Slee

30/05/2026

Street Art Group Show (a selection of works), 2011

At the front desk and entryway of the gallery, you’ll find a selection of plywood cutouts by Crabs and Hemi — two influential writers in Darwin’s local scene. These works were included in a group exhibition curated by Carol Phayer at Chan Contemporary Art Space in 2011.

Phayer played a key role in shaping Darwin’s street art landscape. She helped establish legal walls across the city, pushed for the dismantling of the Graffiti Task Force, and advocated for more sanctioned spaces for writers. She also maintained a database of all legal painting sites in Darwin — writers were given a form to carry so that, if questioned by police, they could present it and be referred directly to Phayer.

Crabs (born 1978)
Hemi (born 1979)
Street Art Group Show (a selection of works), 2011
Aerosol on MDF board
Dimensions variable

Photography:

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Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	8am - 2pm

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Website

http://nccart.com.au/

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