Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in North Queensland will present three new exhibitions next month, led by Meriam artist Gail Mabo's 'Wer Wer (Boundaries)'. Developed during a residency with master printmaker Dian Darmansjah, the exhibition reinterprets boundary maps drawn by Mabo's father, land rights pioneer Eddie Koiki Mabo, through four unique drypoint etching and collagraph prints. Also opening are 'Neural Architecture' by Geoffrey Schmidt, exploring memory and consciousness through oil, string and rocks on aluminium panels, and 'Scattered' by Barbara Pierce, a site-responsive installation made from found materials addressing global displacement and survival.
This exhibition round matters because it centers Indigenous sovereignty and cultural inheritance through contemporary printmaking, with Gail Mabo continuing her father's legacy of mapping and land rights activism. The limited edition prints are expected to attract strong collector interest, while the program as a whole underscores Umbrella Studio's support for ambitious regional art in North Queensland as it approaches its 40th anniversary in 2026. The exhibitions collectively offer audiences an opportunity to engage with pressing themes of identity, memory, and place through deeply personal and culturally rooted practices.