Exciting newcomers to Sydney Contemporary, Melanie Koolmatrie, Susan Peters Wangamirr Nampitjin and Janet Dreamer join Janice Stanley in Everywhen Arts’ curated presentation for Sydney Contemporary 2026, Where Waters Carry Stories. The exhibition explores the profound environmental and cultural significance of water to First Peoples histories, lives and art.
From the striking pink lakes of Meningie in South Australia to the shimmering salt lakes near Uluru, the winding waterways that flow to the vast inland lake of Paruku (Lake Gregory), and the wildlife-rich rivers of the East Kimberley, the four artists featured in Where Waters Carry Stories evoke landscapes of profound cultural and environmental significance.
South Australian artists Melanie Koolmatrie and Janice Stanley and East Kimberley artists Susan Peters Wangamirr Nampitjin and Janet Dreamer represent their Country in distinctive ways. Their works are united by compelling interpretations of the rivers, lakes, salt pans, wetlands and waterways that shape their ancestral landscapes. Through their individual visions, these waterways emerge not simply as geographical features, but as living cultural landscapes that embody memory, identity and enduring connections to Country.