Voyager: Lisa Reihana’s First Major Australian Exhibition Lands at Ngununggula

 

This spring, Ngununggula – the Southern Highlands’ first regional art gallery – presents ‘Voyager’, the first major Australian exhibition of award-winning Aotearoa artist Lisa Reihana. Running from 6 September to 9 November, 2025, the exhibition marks the gallery’s inaugural International Project and features recent works, new commissions, and projects never before seen in Australia.

 

Celebrated for her innovative moving image installations and cross-disciplinary practice, Reihana reimagines historical narratives and centres Indigenous perspectives with cinematic power and poetic force. ‘Voyager’ spans all four gallery spaces and begins with a dramatic new outdoor commission titled Belong, which wraps the entrance pavilion in hundreds of shimmering discs that catch the wind. The work draws inspiration from taniko weaving and references the mountainous terrain surrounding Ngununggula, whose name—gifted by the late Aunty Velma Mulcahy OAM—means “belonging” in the Gundungurra language.

 

Inside, the exhibition showcases work created between 2018 and 2025, providing an immersive view of Reihana’s wide-ranging and evolving practice. Known for challenging colonial histories and asserting non-Western worldviews, Reihana fuses digital technology with cultural storytelling to reflect on identity, memory, and place. Featured works include Māramatanga (2024), a video installation commissioned by the University of Auckland that combines dance, ancestral narratives, and the natural world; and GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL (2024), an ambitious three-channel video work that explores migration, memory, and the legacy of the SS Ventnor tragedy.

 

Reihana, of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine and Ngāi Tū descent, has been at the forefront of contemporary Māori art since the 1990s. Her internationally recognised work challenges Eurocentric accounts of history and creates space for new, culturally grounded narratives. In 2017, she represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale with in Pursuit of Venus [infected]—a landmark work that continues to tour globally.

 

“Lisa is renowned for her exquisite and immersive works,” said Ngununggula Director Susi Muddiman. “We are honoured to present a selection that includes new commissions and first-time Australian presentations. This marks a major step forward in our programming, and we know the exhibition will resonate deeply with our audiences.”