The Dax Centre in Melbourne, in partnership with SANE Australia, has opened "Recovering Art," an exhibition pairing historical works from the Cunningham Dax Collection—created by patients in Victorian psychiatric hospitals from the 1950s—with new contemporary pieces by artists Ruth Buchanan, John Young Zerunge, Abdul Abdullah, Jenna Lee, and Luke Willis Thompson. Curated by Andy Butler, the show includes landscape paintings by Rene Sutton, works by Graeme Doyle, Carla Krijt, and NEG, alongside new commissions that engage with themes of archive, classification, and institutional observation of lived experience.
The exhibition matters because it critically reexamines the legacy of Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, who introduced art programs in psychiatric hospitals but used the artworks for diagnostic labeling, reflecting a history of institutional surveillance. By juxtaposing historical pieces with contemporary responses, "Recovering Art" challenges reductive diagnostic frameworks and advocates for a more nuanced understanding of creativity and mental health, offering a platform for voices that have been historically categorized and marginalized.