Strange Kinship

Drawing on our region’s reputation as a whale watching capital, 'Strange Kinship' brings together international and Australian artists to examine our desire to understand and connect with animals.

Artworks in Strange Kinship look specifically at animals with significance to Butchulla Country—such as whales, sharks, dolphins and birds—exploring the very human ways in which we come to identify or disidentify with these species. Taking its name from the work of French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Strange Kinship asks us to consider our co-habitation of a shared physical world, while acknowledging the unique ways we experience and inhabit it through our vastly different bodies.

Featured artists trace the importance of mythology, spirituality and storytelling in connecting with animals in the past and present. Some artworks delve into the deep human desire to communicate with and better understand non-human life, exposing the limits of our perception and prompting curious speculation. While other works reveal how animals are turned into images, products, and attractions—caught in cycles of consumption that threaten their survival.

Rather than attempting to represent non-human perspectives, Strange Kinship inverts the gaze, inviting deeper reflection on human nature and how culture shapes our perception of the world around us.

Including work by Australian and international artists Allora & Calzadilla (in collaboration with Ted Chiang), Dolphin Milk, Fernando do Campo, Dr. Jodi Edwards, Gabriella Hirst, Nicholas Mangan, Trent Mitchell, Deb Mostert, and The Dolphin Embassy Archives (curated by the New Landscapes Institute).

Please note: Allora & Calzadilla (in collaboration with Ted Chiang), The Great Silence (2014) will be on view in Gallery 3 until Sunday 28 September. 

Image: Deb Mostert, Whale as Object (detail), 2024, watercolour, 55 x 77 cm. Collection: Hervey Bay Regional Gallery.