NAIDOC: LORE | Land

LORE | Land is an exhibition grounded in the deep cultural knowledge, ancestral connections, and sovereign rights of Australian First Nations peoples. | 3 Jul to 16 Aug 2026

NAIDOC: LORE | Land
Lydon Davis | The Lore of the Land | 2018 | Acrylic on canvas | Sunshine Coast Art Collection - Acquired through SCC 2017 - 2019 Reconciliation Action Plan

 The exhibition recognises that lore is not simply story - it is so much more: an enduring system of knowledge, responsibility, kinship, and custodianship that binds people to Country across generations.  In LORE | Land, the artworks become pathways through these living knowledge systems. They articulate the unbroken relationships that First Nations artists hold with their ancestral lands, waters, skies and community. They speak to the cultural memory that is embedded in place, carried in language, held in body, and passed forward through ceremony, practice, and creation.

Yet LORE | land also acknowledges the political realities that continue to shape these relationships. The exhibition foregrounds the artists’ voices as they address issues such as dispossession and loss of land; attempts to erase cultural practice and identity; the impact of colonisation on lore, Country, and community; the continuing struggle for recognition, truth-telling, and justice; and the sovereignty that has never been ceded.

These works collectively assert that culture has not vanished; it has endured, resisted, adapted, and thrived. First Nations custodianship has remained constant, despite displacement and ongoing structural inequities.

LORE | Land invites audiences to step into a space shaped not by colonial mappings of the continent, but by the cultural geographies that long predate them — places marked by storylines, ancestral presence, sacred sites, and responsibilities to care for Country. Through painting, sculpture, textiles, digital media, installation, and story work, the artists illuminate the complex intersections of memory, loss, belonging, and sovereignty that continue to define the First Peoples of this land.

This exhibition stands as both a celebration and a challenge: a celebration of the resilience, brilliance, and continuity of First Nations cultural knowledge, and a challenge to Australia to recognise, respect, and uphold the sovereign rights, lore, and custodianship that have existed on this continent since time immemorial.

LocationEventDate and timeCostRegistration
Caloundra Regional GalleryExhibitionFriday 3 July to Sunday 16 August 2026FreeNot required
Caloundra Regional GalleryLaunchThursday 2 July, 6-8pm$15TBA