Contents
writing+art
unfurl /7 image by Ryota Hisanabe.
Author: Stephen J. Williams
-
Australian arts on the internet in 2025
- Australian Poetry
- Australian Painters
- Australian Artists
- Patrick White
- Review articles of Australian poetry and poets
- Literature, Commentary & Cultural Review
- Academic & University-Affiliated Journals
- Visual Arts News & Criticism
- Poetry specific
- Performing Arts (Theatre, Music, Opera)
Australian Poetry
The past year has celebrated established mastery and urgent new voices, with David Brooks claiming the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. The sector also saw the release of the Best of Australian Poems 2025 anthology and a vibrant Poetry Month program fostering community engagement.
- David Brooks wins the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry
The $80,000 prize was awarded for his collection The Other Side of Daylight, praised for its profound literary contribution. - Release of the Best of Australian Poems 2025 Anthology
Edited by Nam Le and Jill Jones, this annual collection captures the diversity of the nation’s poetic output. - Evelyn Araluen releases new collection The Rot
The Stella Prize-winning author’s latest work explores the dying days of late-stage capitalism and settler colonial violence. - Red Room Poetry’s 2025 Poetry Month Festival
The August festival featured events like the Poem Forest Prize and the National Poetry Month Gala in Sydney. - ACT Literary Awards 2025 Winners Announced
Winners included Alisha Brown for the Finding Beauty Poetry Prize, celebrating emerging talent in the region.
Australian Painters
The 2025 awards season saw Julie Fragar and Jude Rae recognised for their exceptional portraiture and landscape work respectively. Major institutions also celebrated historical figures, with the National Gallery of Australia launching comprehensive retrospectives of modernist painters Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar.
- Julie Fragar wins the 2025 Archibald Prize
The Brisbane artist won for Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene), a portrait of her friend and fellow artist Justene Williams. - Jude Rae wins the 2025 Wynne Prize
Rae was awarded $50,000 for her landscape painting Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal. - Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar Retrospectives at NGA
The National Gallery of Australia celebrates these two influential modernist painters with a major double exhibition. - Tony Albert named Artistic Director for Indigenous Triennial
The renowned painter and mixed-media artist led the curation of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial. - Vincent Namatjira features in After the Rain
The celebrated portraitist presented a series of intimate works for the Triennial, honouring fellow participating artists. - Arthur Boyd’s Artwork Returns to Bundanon
A major work by the celebrated painter has been loaned from the National Gallery to his former residence in NSW.
Australian Artists
The visual arts landscape was defined by the opening of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial and significant prize announcements. First Nations sovereignty and connection to Country were central themes, while contemporary artists like Gene A’Hern and Jonathan Jones received acclaim for their site-specific and abstract works.
- Opening of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain
This major exhibition features 10 immersive installations by First Nations artists, celebrating culture and resilience. - Gene A’Hern wins the 2025 Sulman Prize
A’Hern was awarded $40,000 for Sky painting, a bold gestural work inspired by the Blue Mountains. - Jonathan Jones featured in Bagan Bariwariganyan at Bundanon
Jones’s work appears alongside Aunty Julie Freeman in an exhibition exploring stories of the Gweagal and Wandiwandian peoples. - Alair Pambegan’s Flying Fox Installation
The artist created a suspended installation of over 500 flying foxes using traditional ochre for the Triennial. - Warraba Weatherall’s Mother-Tongue Installation
Weatherall presented a powerful new work exploring the relationship between body, language, and cultural heritage. - Ocean Photographer of the Year Exhibition
The Australian National Maritime Museum toured this exhibition to Bundanon, showcasing stunning aquatic photography.
Patrick White
Focus on Patrick White has been renewed through the prestigious literary award named in his honour, won this year by David Brooks. The playwrights’ award also recognised new talent, while fresh critical scholarship continues to examine White’s complex legacy and “dilemmas” in contemporary Australian culture.
- David Brooks wins the 2025 Patrick White Literary Award
The author received the $20,000 prize recognising his profound lifelong contribution to Australian literature and poetry. - Karolina Ristevski wins the 25th Patrick White Playwrights Award
Ristevski won for her play River Was Here, described as an accomplished and devastating portrait of human trauma. - New Book: On Patrick White’s Dilemmas by Vrasidas Karalis
A new critical work explores White’s “vernacular orality” and his status as a singular, uncompromising literary figure. - Nicholas Jose Essay: “Can we not live with Patrick White any longer?”
Jose reviews Karalis’s book and discusses the fading public memory of White’s image versus his enduring literary power. - Sydney Theatre Company celebrates 25 years of Playwrights Award
The 2025 ceremony honoured the award’s history of fostering new Australian drama in White’s name. - Patrick White’s Legacy in Environmental Thought
Judges cited White’s influence when awarding David Brooks, noting the shared thematic depth regarding nature and animals.
Review articles of Australian poetry and poets
- Guardian Review of Evelyn Araluen’s The Rot
Critics described the collection as a “fever dream” with an icily cold vision of injustice and capitalist decay. - The Guardian’s “Best Poetry Books of 2025”
The list highlights notable collections that pushed the boundaries of the form, including works by diverse Australian voices. - Review of The Other Side of Daylight by David Brooks
Praised for its “extraordinary care,” the book was celebrated for traversing histories of gender and nature with lyrical depth. - UWA Experts Share Best Books of 2025
Academic critics selected Evelyn Araluen’s The Rot as a standout text for its “unbearable complex tensions.” - Review of Best of Australian Poems 2025
The anthology is described as a “poetic snapshot” and barometer of the year, amplifying a diverse range of voices.
Literature, Commentary & Cultural Review
Australian Book Review (ABR)
Australia’s premier critical magazine, offering reviews, essays, commentaries, and new creative writing.
Editor: Peter Rose
https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/Sydney Review of Books (SRB)
A dedicated online literary journal focusing on long-form criticism and essays.
Editor: James Ley
https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/Meanjin
Now defunct.
https://meanjin.com.au/The Monthly
A national magazine covering politics, society, and the arts, featuring long-form journalism and reviews.
Editor: Michael Williams
https://www.themonthly.com.au/Inside Story
An independent news and current affairs site featuring strong arts and culture analysis.
Editor: Peter Clarke
https://insidestory.org.au/Island Magazine
A premium literary magazine from Tasmania that publishes high-quality fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Editorial Manager: Jane Rawson
https://islandmag.com/Mascara Literary Review
A bi-annual journal focusing on contemporary writing by First Nations, culturally diverse, and neurodivergent artists.
Artistic Director: Michelle Cahill
https://www.mascarareview.com/Rochford Street Review
An independent online journal reviewing Australian literature, poetry, and small-press publications.
Editors: Mark Roberts and Linda Adair
https://rochfordstreetreview.com/Peril Magazine
An Asian-Australian arts and culture magazine publishing poetry, prose, and visual arts with a focus on diverse perspectives.
Chairperson: Lian Low
https://peril.com.au/
Academic & University-Affiliated Journals
Griffith Review
Operating out of Griffith University, this quarterly features public intellectual essays, reportage, and creative writing.
Editor: Carina Garland
https://www.griffithreview.com/Westerly Magazine
Based at the University of Western Australia, this journal publishes fiction, poetry, and essays with a focus on WA and Asia.
General Editor: Daniel Juckes
https://westerlymag.com.au/Southerly
One of Australia’s oldest literary journals, published by the English Association (Sydney).
Editor: Elizabeth McMahon
https://southerlyjournal.com.au/Axon: Creative Explorations
Published by the University of Canberra, this open-access journal focuses on poetry and creative practice-led research.
Editors: Jen Webb and Paul Hetherington
https://axonjournal.com.au/TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses
The journal of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP), publishing scholarly articles on creative writing.
Managing Editors: Julienne van Loon and Ross Watkins
https://textjournal.scholasticahq.com/
Visual Arts News & Criticism
Art Monthly Australasia
The region’s flagship visual arts publication, providing critical discourse and exhibition reviews.
Editor: Michael Fitzgerald
https://www.artmonthly.org.au/Art Almanac
A monthly guide to galleries, news, and awards, serving as the essential “gallery guide” for the industry.
Editor: Melissa Pesa
https://www.art-almanac.com.au/ArtsHub
The primary trade publication for the Australian arts industry, covering news, jobs, and policy.
Content Director: George Dunford
https://www.artshub.com.au/Artist Profile
Focuses on the artists themselves, featuring in-depth studio interviews and photographic profiles.
Editor: Kon Gouriotis
https://artistprofile.com.au/Memo Review
Australia’s only weekly online review dedicated strictly to visual art exhibitions (primarily Melbourne/Sydney).
Editorial Team: Rotating academic and critic collective
https://memoreview.net/Runway Journal
An open-access digital platform for experimental art and criticism, managed by a rotating board of artists.
Co-Chairs (2025): Ena Grozdanic and Athanasios Lazarou
https://runway.org.au/un Projects (un Magazine)
An independent platform for contemporary art criticism, focusing on local dialogue and artist-led discourse.
Editor: Rotating guest editors per issue
https://unprojects.org.au/
Poetry specific
Cordite Poetry Review
A comprehensive online journal for Australian and international poetry and criticism.
Editor: Kent MacCarter
http://cordite.org.au/Australian Poetry Journal
The flagship publication of the national poetry body, publishing contemporary poems and critical essays.
Editor: Jacinta Le Plastrier (Publisher)
https://www.australianpoetry.org/
Performing Arts (Theatre, Music, Opera)
Limelight
Australia’s leading independent magazine for classical music, opera, and the performing arts.
Editor: Jo Litson
https://limelightmagazine.com.au/Australian Stage
Provides reviews and news covering theatre, opera, dance, and musicals across major capital cities.
Editor: Review team based
https://www.australianstage.com.au/
-
Susan Wald — making monotypes
Majoring in Painting at Victoria College, Prahran 1989-91 I enrolled in printmaking as an elective. From the Head of Printmaking, John Scurry and lecturer Simon Cooper, I learnt different techniques discovering that this was a medium I could experiment with and one that could inform and feed into my painting. I developed a love of the process and later began to concentrate mainly on monotypes; a combination of drawing, painting and printmaking, they allowed me a more felt response when making and reacting to marks on the plate. Facilitating rapid experimentation and subtle development of the image, the monotype has become an integral part of my art practice.
On a first encounter with Degas’ monotypes over thirty years ago, I felt driven to spend countless hours poring over his sooty, inky blacks; his drawing and abstraction leaving their indelible mark. Degas distilled everything down to its essence, reflecting life and the human condition. Powerful images that had me enthralled, he more than any other artist influenced and prodded my desire and curiosity to experiment with the medium.
The Australian Print Workshop (APW) provided a great space for working in an environment where everyone was making and engaging in a conversation about prints. I’d go there for long stints after initial drawings and usually before I’d begin painting in my studio. Since 2014, I’ve had five wonderful and productive residencies at The Art Vault, the last three working on a body of work responding to Lake Mungo. After making black and white monotypes, a number of them exhibited in solo shows at the Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) in 2020, and then at Printmaker Gallery (PG) 2021. Working in black and white helped make some sense of the structure, form and mood. Preparing the plate, I would either cover it completely or partially with ink, drawing, wiping or adding to the image with tools and rags until it spoke to me of the land. After printing a darker first image I proceeded to work back into the ghost image on the plate. Colour being integral to Mungo I experimented further. I had been overwhelmed by the colour shifts – red to burnt orange, blue grey and yellow. In my mind bringing myself back to the land, I would often refer to sketches and photos both made and taken in my time there. I worked using memory and imagination to feel the subtleties and build-up of coloured layers of sand and mud pinnacles at Red Top and the Walls of China, but also on images of trees struggling to survive in the sand and the mud, and the sometimes still, sometimes windy, blue or grey clouds and the colour reflected skies.
Susan Wald These coloured monotypes were a prelude; small experiments, many discarded. I used a combination of watercolour, gauche and ink, then printed on Hahnmuhle Paper. I had my last and final residency at The Art Vault early in 2021. While there I worked on larger plates; being perspex they allowed me to see the image in reverse and also discover any stubborn, unresolved areas. This time using only coloured Charbonnel inks I covered parts of the plate with a roller creating different coloured areas, working intuitively with brushes to draw, tarlatan to wipe, feel and leave texture, cotton buds to discover small highlights, rags to wipe larger areas of light or wipe out whole areas and rework. Other times I began drawing the image, afterwards introducing colour. An awareness of my tools such as brush and roller marks are evident leaving an imprint of my process on the paper. They reflect a tactile response to my subject, helping me discover the abstract elements on the plate. Robert Watson, one of The Art Vault staff would assist in lining up the damp paper on the plate. Then we’d run it through the press. I always love the element of surprise when the paper is lifted off the plate. I’d invariably use the impression of a first print to make a second or a third, redrawing the plate and reworking it until I felt it was ready; my hope being that it had something of the feel of the ancient land that is Mungo, its past, its present, its beauty and its pain. Over time with the thirty odd images on my studio walls I continue to contemplate the works, deciding whether or not they are successful, completing some and reworking a few, but the majority I leave untouched.
A version of this piece appeared previously in Tech Talk.
-
Ryota Hisanabe
Ryota Hisanabe is an Australian-Japanese photographer living in Spain.
I’ve started to take photography since I was eleven or twelve years old, influenced by record jackets in the 90’s in Japan. It becomes more serious/passionate after entering a university by studying industrial design. German photography impressed me a lot at the study, and now and then their style is always behind my photography ideas.
I love humans but, at the same time, I hate them. We are beautiful and ugly. I don’t take photos of any people, because it gives so much energy to me. Instead, I take photos of a trace of humanity. The sense of people. That may be what I cannot touch but I am willing to obtain, thus I record it as a two dimensional format.
Photographs
West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Ryota Hisanabe 
Time/Unseen (Melbourne, 2022) Ryota Hisanabe 
Wedekindstraße, Berlin, Germany, Ryota Hisanabe 
Karl-Marx-Allee (Berlin, Germany) Ryota Hisanabe 
Fake, Tokyo Nostalgia 10/40 (2010) Ryota Hisanabe 
Uniform (2009) Ryota Hisanabe 
Sunny poolside, Newcastle, NSW, Ryota Hisanabe 
Girder bridge 2 Ryota Hisanabe ![Forbidden (2018) [1/250, F19, PORTRA 400]](https://unfurl.online/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/forbidden-2018-ryota-hisanabe.jpg?w=1024)
Forbidden (1/250, F19, PORTRA 400, 2018) Ryota Hisanabe 
flow 3 (Tokyo Nostalgia 14/47, 2010) Ryota Hisanabe 
Expenses (2022) Ryota Hisanabe 
Echo Tokyo Nostalgia 20/47 (2010) Ryota Hisanabe 
Brighton, Victoria, Australia (2022) Ryota Hisanabe -
Joyce Lee
It is nearly dark when I come to the Indian Ocean
Joyce Lee’s It is nearly dark when I come to the Indian Ocean, her collected works 1965–2003, was published by Stephen J. Williams in 2003. There is an introduction by Chris Wallace-Crabbe. Lee died in 2007.
The complete book is also available on the National Library of Australia’s TROVE.
Joyce Lee (c.1996) Stephen J. Williams -
Anne Casey’s new book published by Salmon Poetry
Anne Casey wrote on her social media accounts:
Absolutey thrilled to share the cover of my #new#book ‘Seang (Hungering)’ which is based on my award-winning #research and #poetry exploring the lost histories of a group of rebel girls who were daughters of #Irish#famine#immigrants to #Australia.
My eternal gratitude to the literary powerhouse Jessie Lendennie, Managing Director at Salmon Poetry for her stalwart support of my work over the past 10 years. Massive thanks to Siobhan Hutson Jeanotte for her beautiful design and painstaking production work. My heartfelt gratitude to AnthonyQuinnArtist for his stunning cover #art responding to my poetry.
There are a million people to thank… my #PhD supervisors, the late Gabrielle Carey whose encouragement never wavered, Associate Professor Bhuva Narayan and Dr Penni Russon for their wisdom and support. Poets, friends, inspirations, Eamonn Wall, Sarah Holland-Batt, Judith Beveridge, Wendy J. Dunn and so many others who are named in the book. My family always. Rory Lonergan
-
Steve Cox: ‘The Road to Ruin’
Steve Cox A virtual record of Steve Cox’s exhibition ‘The Road to Ruin’
The exhibition was held at William Mora Galleries, August to September 2025.
High Noon (2025) Steve Cox -
Susan Wald exhibition: ‘The Gathering’ — monotypes
Tacit Art is at 314 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, in Victoria.
-
An artificial intelligence poetry review
Les Wicks’ Time Taken
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in creative fields, including literary analysis. Here is a review of Les Wicks’ Time Taken, a new and selected book of poems published in 2025. The review is written and presented in the form of a podcast by artificial intelligence hosts.
I intentionally left the review unedited; my only intervention was to customize the tone to be adopted by the fictional hosts and to require them to quote extensively from the actual poems.
This experiment is published with permission of Les Wicks. This AI review contains several significant errors. Quotations are sometimes wrong, interpretations sometimes wrong, and the dialogue is annoyingly repetitive; but what do we expect? It’s made by a computer algorithm.
The process yields a linguistic analysis of a text’s themes, based simply on the words and phrases used in it. I’ve included some of this analysis in the notes to the video.
—Stephen J. Williams
UNFURL 