Water. Life on earth can’t exist without it, but beyond the perfunctory, how often do we think about this essential element or about our relationship to it? This is the question at the heart of the blockbuster exhibition Water at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Through literal and allegorical renderings about water in its various incarnations, the exhibition invites contemplation on the ways that water impacts our lives, as individuals, communities, and more broadly as co-inhabitants of an increasingly fragile planet.

Curated by Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, the gallery’s Curatorial Manager, International Art, Water is at once monumental in scale and ambition, and wonderously intimate. The show comprises a wide-ranging collection of apporoximately one hundred works from global artists. It includes photography, moving image, painting, sculpture, and installation pieces.