Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre will present 'Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise' opening on May 9, 2025. The exhibition, developed and toured nationally by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia), features Colombian Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso's photographic project on the Australian Maratus spider. It includes 17 large-scale digital photographic portraits created with scientific imager Geoff Thompson and entomologist Andy Wang, plus an immersive projection of Cardoso's video 'On the Origins of Art I-II' (2016), co-owned by MCA Australia and Tate.
The exhibition matters because it bridges art, science, and nature, revealing the sophisticated beauty of tiny, often overlooked creatures through innovative microphotography. It highlights MCA Australia's commitment to touring contemporary Australian art to regional audiences, supported by the New Dimensions: NSW Visual Arts (Established) Fellowship. The show also underscores Cardoso's international reputation for using unconventional materials to explore the connections between society and the natural world.