Virginia Keft Artist

05/09/2026

I’m honoured to be curating Truth-Telling: Our Past, Present and Future featuring incredible work by Kinchela Boys Home survivors.
Please come to the opening on Friday!

Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation KBHAC and the Coolamon Arts Hub are proud to announce that Dr Virginia Keft Artist a Muruwari artist (See Bio below) has been appointed curator of our upcoming exhibition in Sydney featuring works by Kinchela Boys Home survivors.

Truth-Telling: Our Past, Present and Future features the artwork of KBH survivors whose works share the experiences of KBH and legacies it has left on their lives and the journey of reuniting.

The exhibition also features Noongar and Spinifex visual storyteller Tace Steven's photographic collaboration with the KBH Survivors
titled 'We Were Just Little Boys'

Bio: Dr Virginia Keft is a Muruwari artist living and working on Dharawal Country (Wollongong, NSW). Through weaving, sculpture, painting and installation, she creates works that bring together eucalyptus bark, fibre, silk, bronze and timber to reflect relationships between Country and madjam (flying foxes).

Drawing on her own Muruwari cultural knowledge and lived experience, her practice centres truth-telling, ecological care and the enduring presence of Country.

Her work has been recognised through major awards, public commissions and finalist exhibitions, and is held in public and private collections in Australia and internationally.

In 2025, Keft exhibited alongside twenty-five Australian artists at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, Germany.

Keft is the Producer of bangawarra Art Yarns for older and Elder mob at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (University Medal), a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Distinction), and a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from the University of Wollongong

Exhibition location (See Graphic )

Special Events
Launch 11th September
6.00pm to 8.00 pm

To Register
https://events.humanitix.com/coolamon-arts-hub-exhibition-truth-telling-our-past-present-and-future

Meet the artist October 2nd

Closing event 23rd October

Exhibition opening hours 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Paddington Market Days
September 12 to 17 October

Paddington Markets
AH&MRC of NSW
Healing Foundation
Tiffany McComsey
Paddington Uniting Church
Aboriginal Medical Service Cooperative Ltd
AbSec
Close the Gap
Claystone Marketing
Creative Australia

22/08/2026

🍃 Final days to see Pinampi at Artspace, until 30 Aug.

2026 Visual Arts Fellowship (emerging) Exhibition

📸 Virginia Keft, Pinampi, (detail), 2026.
Installation view, Artspace, Sydney, 2026.
Photos by Hamish McIntosh

Artspace Create NSW

20/08/2026

✨ I’m so pleased to share that my works have been selected to appear in the finalist exhibition of the 2026 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award!

🦇🦉

📍 Campbelltown Arts Centre
📅 Exhibition runs 26 Sept – 4 Dec 2026

Campbelltown Arts Centre

16/08/2026

Pinampi is a Muruwari word that simultaneously means to listen and to remember. It describes a way of knowing in which listening is itself an act of remembering. This installation brings together bark, weaving, plant-dyed silk, bronze and projection in a space shaped by the movement of flying foxes as dusk falls. Suspended silk canopies in pink dusk light sit in conversation with the bark of trees that once stood tall, drawing the eye from earth to sky.

🦇🍃 Come see the exhibition at Artspace, until 6 Sept.

📸 Virginia Keft, Pinampi, (detail), 2026.
Installation view, Artspace, Sydney, 2026.
Photos by Hamish McIntosh

Artspace Create NSW

15/08/2026

Firstdraft has long been a springboard for artists and new ideas. Two years ago, my solo exhibition Guruwa Gunya (gum tree home) gave me the space to experiment with immersive installation for the first time, and became a pivotal point in my practice.

Earlier this year I joined the Firstdraft Board, and I’m excited to be part of the gallery’s journey in its 40th anniversary year.

Firstdraft, Australia’s longest-running artist-led organisation, has announced the appointment of three new board members and welcomed three recent staff additions, as the Sydney-based contemporary arts organisation strengthens its governance and operational capacity during its 40th anniversary ye...

09/08/2026

✨ I’m excited to share that my work has been selected as a finalist in the 2026 Gosford Art Prize!

Working with possum skin, eucalyptus bark and other natural materials, I’m excited to see it included in this year’s exhibition at Gosford Regional Gallery. 🌿

Gosford Regional Gallery & Edogawa Japanese Garden

30/07/2026

Botanical Mark-making Workshop
Sat 8 Aug 2026
Artspace

Join artists Maddison Gibbs and Virginia Keft for an all-ages botanical mark-making workshop exploring native plants and objects from Country.

Drawing inspiration from their works currently on display at Artspace participants are invited to respond to the textures, forms and patterns found in leaves, bark, seedpods and other natural materials through guided drawing exercises.

Through hands-on making, close observation and intergenerational knowledge sharing, this workshop invites participants to reflect on the relationships between plants, place, cultural knowledge and creative practice.

Presented as part of the Knowledge Sharing Forum, view the full program at https://www.artspace.org.au/public-program

📅 Sat 8 Aug 2026,
⏰ 2:00pm - 3:00pm
📍Artspace- 43–51 Cowper Wharf Roadway
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011 Sydney Australia

Free, booking essential
Maddie Gibbs Artspace Create NSW

Image 1: Virginia Keft, Pinampi, detail; 2026 installation view, Artspace. Photo: Hamish McIntosh

Image 2: Virginia Keft, Pinampi, detail; 2026 installation view, Artspace. Photo: Anna Kucera

Image 3: Maddison Gibbs, 2023. Photo: Anna Kucera

17/07/2026

💔 For more than thirty years, Mel and I shared a friendship that shaped my life. We danced, laughed, cried, and celebrated. Losing her has left a space in my heart that words can’t quite reach.

Mel was glamorous and sparkly, silly and kind. Our lives became intertwined through ✨Cinnamon Twist Belly Dance Belly Dance, where decades of dancing and teaching together turned into a lifetime of shared memories, friendships, celebrations and unwavering support.

To our dance community, Mel was a shining light, always ready to cheer others on and lift the spirits of everyone she knew.

🥀 But in the slow grief of losing you, I find it is the quiet moments that I will miss most of all. When the stage lights are dimmed, the crowds dispersed and the students gone home. Our makeup less perfect, and the performance behind us. Those were the moments when we shared the hard stuff, the funny stuff, our plans, our hardships and our dreams.

It’s a rare and beautiful gift to have a friend like you, Mel - someone with whom you can be your real self. And even though I had more than 30 years in your orbit, it still wasn’t enough.

You are gone far too soon, and it has broken my heart to lose you. 💔

I take solace in knowing you left this world knowing just how deeply you were loved. For that, we can all be grateful.

✨ Rest now, my beautiful friend.
Love you, always.
Gin

Mel Robson
1967-2026

Mel Robson ✨Cinnamon Twist Belly Dance

09/07/2026

03/07/2026

🌿🦇✨ Last night was the opening of the 2026 Create NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging) exhibition. What an incredible journey it has been!

Huge congratulations to Amelia Skelton on being awarded this year’s fellowship, and to all of the other finalists- Natasha Dubler, Caitlin Dubler, Sue Jo Wright, Charles Levi and Tia Madden. It was such a great experience getting to know you all and sharing the gallery with you and your work.

A big thank you to the Artspace team for your support, generosity and care throughout the process. You helped make this such a meaningful experience.

And to my wonderful family and friends, thank you for being there to celebrate with me. It meant so much to share the evening with you. 💖

2026 Create NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging)
3 July – 6 September 2026
Artspace, The Gunnery, Woolloomooloo

Artspace Create NSW

Natasha Dubler
Caitlin Dubler
Amelia Skelton
Sue Jo Wright
Charles Levi
Tia Madden
Victor Wang (王宗孚)