Image: TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville
TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville has opened 'Inside the Mirage', a group exhibition curated by James Lynch and running until 1 November 2026. The museum describes the show as shaped by the imaginative and philosophical worlds of Ian Fairweather (1891–1974) and John Young Zerunge (b. 1956), placing the two artists in dialogue through works drawn from the TarraWarra Museum of Art Collection and selected contemporary loans.
According to the museum, the exhibition is designed to highlight new perspectives and connections between Australian art history and the present. It foregrounds artworks based on shared and inherited stories, and looks at intertwined histories and cultural narratives that shape contemporary identities and worldviews. The exhibition text also says that 'Inside the Mirage' explores the relationships between artists, temporal frameworks and geographic contexts, centring lived experience.
The display brings together TarraWarra collection works and loans by a group of contemporary Australian artists. Those named on the museum’s exhibition page include Mikala Dwyer, Narelle Jubelin, Michael Stevenson, My Le Thi, Zhou Xiaoping and Johnny Bulunbulun, Meng-Yu Yan, William Yang and Gordon Bennett. The museum says these works extend the conversation initiated by Fairweather and Young across diasporas, time and place, and “humanise the mythical” while generating new narratives of social belonging.
The exhibition’s title work and related pieces on the website point to the centrality of Fairweather and Young to the project. TarraWarra reproduces Fairweather’s 'Chi-tien stands on head' from 1964 and Young’s 'Fairweather Transformation XXIV' from 2026, among other works shown in the exhibition materials. The museum also presents Young’s 'After Fairweather XXIV' and 'Transculture, Colourful Beast', underscoring the sustained dialogue between the two artists’ practices across generations.
'Inside the Mirage' is accompanied by a programme of events tied to the exhibition. On 15 August, William Yang presents 'Becoming Myself', described as a keynote lecture and performance slideshow on migration, identity, community and place. On 5 September, the museum will host 'Fairweather Transformations', an in-conversation event with John Young and art historian Claire Roberts, facilitated by curator James Lynch. That same day visitors can book 'Behind the Glass: Waterways' tours of the museum’s Visible Art Storage and the new collection rehang 'Waterways'.
TarraWarra’s August bulletin also lists a series of related public programs, including 'Analog Art Club' on 4 September, inspired by 'Inside the Mirage' and led by art therapist and artist Olympia Antoniadis. The museum says the workshop will use slow looking, shared reflection and materials such as ink, pastel and watercolour. Additional ongoing programs listed on the museum site include 'TarraWarra Tots' and 'Breathwork at TarraWarra', both of which begin in September, while the museum states that 'Inside the Mirage' is now open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, until 1 November 2026.
