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Unshackled is an award-winning immersive digital exhibition that reveals the untold story of Australia's convict past. Unlike the popular narrative of punishment and chains, Unshackled tells the story of the Assignment System — where convicts earned their freedom through skill and labour. Through cutting-edge digital storytelling, visitors can connect with individual convict stories from the 160,000 men, women, and children transported to Australia. The exhibition brings the Assignment System to life through immersive projections, interactive displays, and deeply personal narratives. Housed in the purpose-built Nigel Peck Centre at Woolmers Estate, Unshackled is accessible in all weather and is included with combined admission tickets.

Featuring a variety of oil, acrylic, pen and ink, coloured pencil, watercolour and mixed medium. Four Tasmanian artists bring their exciting artwork together for this inspiring exhibition on all things feathery, furry and floral. Artists: Ryan Rivers, Sandra Henderson, Susie Shaw, Mary Stary Opening event: Sunday 30 August, arrive from 2.15 for a 2.30pm start Meet the artists, see their exhibition and enjoy some light refreshments All artworks will be for sale. Showing: Fri 28 Aug till Wed 23 Sept Open daily from 9am-4pm

This exhibition celebrates the natural beauty of seashells and the enduring sense of wonder they inspire. It features a striking selection of specimens from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) Collections, showcasing a wonderful array of shapes, sizes, colours and patterns. Seashells have long captivated the imagination, holding diverse meanings and purposes across cultures and through time. Today, they continue to fascinate and remain embedded in everyday life, appearing in design and popular imagery. Step into The World of Seashells to discover more about these natural treasures –how molluscs have evolved, how shells grow, what their colours and patterns might reveal –or simply marvel at their extraordinary beauty.

This exhibition is a survey of 100 years of photographic history depicting Tasmania's nature, sharing perspectives of the island, Lutruwita, as Aboriginal Country, as well as terrain charted by colonists' exploration, adventure and exploitation. These images reveal an island State through the lens of landscape, capturing meanings of place, nature's beauty and resources, as well as exposing shifting conceptions of the natural world and boundaries of the photographic medium. This exhibition encompasses images developed from wet-plate processes and albumen prints, original cibachrome prints, as well as contemporary digital works, and is accompanied by selected photographic equipment from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection.

French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière is marking a descent into deep time at Mona. Come and sample sculpture, film, photography and installation from the full breadth of Charrière's elemental output—where stone grinds, iceberg groans, mountain heaves—bridging nature, science, history, industry, myth and morality. Until 29 March 2027

Becoming Modern is a survey exhibition exploring the emergence of modernism in Australia during the twentieth century. Drawn largely from the Tasmanian State Collection, it features iconic Australian modernists alongside lesser-known works, many of which are exhibited for the first time. This large-scale exhibition brings together paintings, sculpture and works on paper, highlighting figuration, abstraction, and foregrounding works by Tasmanian women artists.

What happens when you pair research scientists with high-school art students, with the goal of inspiring new artworks that communicate scientific concepts and ideas? Head along to the CoLab exhibition to find out! Through Beaker Street's CoLab initiative, students from New Norfolk High School, Hobart Big Picture School, and Hobart City High School work directly with local scientists, visiting their labs and field sites, to create artworks inspired by their research. To find out more about this great program, visit the CoLab project page. The exhibition will be open during TMAG's regular opening hours, as well as during TMAG After Dark on the evenings of Friday 14th and Saturday 15th August. This activity was assisted through Arts Tasmania, the Commonwealth Government through the STEM Maker Projects Grant, and the Fred P Arthur Charitable Trust. This event is part of Beaker Street Festival 2026

Each year, the Beaker Street Science Photography Prize celebrates extraordinary images that reveal how science shapes our understanding of the world, with a particular focus on Lutruwita/ Tasmania, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica. Now in its 10th year, the Prize invites photographers, scientists, and keen observers to share their perspective on our incredible part of the world. From microscopic structures to vast Antarctic landscapes, these remarkable images capture the beauty and complexity all around us. This year's exhibition features 12 finalist images chosen through a combination of judging and public voting, with the shortlist selected by our 2026 judges: Wuradjuri astrophysicist and science communication star Dr Kirsten Banks and Australian Geographic 2025 Nature Photographer of the Year Marley Butler. Visitors to the exhibition can also cast their vote for the People's Choice Award. This exhibition is open during TMAG's opening hours between 5 August and 6 September, as well as during TMAG After Dark. This event is part of Beaker Street Festival 2026

David Keeling looks for the dreamlike moments when a strong Tasmanian wind draws the clouds away from the sun, shining a spotlight on the wild terrain below. His focus lies in the interplay between light and shadow, and in these isolated moments that can happen on our island. "I have tried to interrogate that moment when the prosaic becomes the transcendent" he shares. 'Waking on a Sunny Day' is filled with arresting landscapes, portrayed mostly through oil on linen. They are literal depictions of place, subtly infused with memory. "It fascinates me that we can be in a place we have been in countless times before, and then suddenly it is as if you see it for the first time." – David Keeling, 2026 David Keeling is recognised as one of Australia's leading landscape painters, with an impressive exhibition history spanning over four decades. A multiple-time prize winner, including the Glover Prize twice, Keeling has also been recognised by the Australia Council through international residencies in Verdaccio, London and Rome. His work is held in the collections of numerous national and state institutions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the National Gallery of Australia; and in corporate and private collections nationally and internationally.

'The first impulse of the maker of hand pottery is to obtain pleasure in making and decorating an article, and making that pleasure intelligible to others…' – Merric Boyd, 1930 Fantastic Forms captures the energy, movement and colour in the expansive creative practice of Merric Boyd (1888-1959). Featuring over 200 drawings and ceramics from the Bundanon Collection, in dialogue with contemporary works by Rubyrose Bancroft, Stephen Benwell and Nabilah Nordin, this exhibition celebrates the endless creativity of the human imagination. This Bundanon Touring exhibition will travel to ten regional and metropolitan venues across Australia from 2025 through until 2028.

'Tasmanian Still Life' is the culmination of a year-long body of work by Tasmanian photographic artist Emma Coombes, bringing together a series of meticulously crafted photographic tableaux inspired by the drama of Baroque painting and the rich natural and cultural heritage of lutruwita/Tasmania. Featuring native flora and fauna alongside objects of beauty, history and antiquity, each work reimagines the traditional still life through a distinctly Tasmanian lens. Blending photography with digital mixed media and painterly techniques, the series balances dramatic lighting and historical references with storybook charm, fairy-tale symbolism and moments of whimsy. Plush creatures, native botanicals and treasured objects become characters within constructed atmospheric scenes that prompt curiosity, imagination and nostalgia. The small number of works pre-released from the collection have received significant recognition, with one shortlisted for a major Tasmanian art prize and another awarded the People's Vote and an Honourable Mention in the international ReFocus Colour Photography Awards. Presented together for the first time in their place of origin, The Henry Jones Art Hotel, 'Tasmanian Still Life' celebrates Tasmania's unique flora, fauna and cultural heritage through immersive photographic narratives that blur the boundaries between fine art, folklore and fantasy. Visit The Elm & the Raven website to view available works.

The Past the Post racing exhibition is a collection of stories and memorabilia relating to the horse racing history of the Meander Valley. Over many years, racing at Deloraine has witnessed heroics, greatness, humour and tragedy. Come along to the exhibition and learn about this fascinating era. This exhibition seeks to celebrate the people and the horses whose legacy has helped shape our community. In a new world where cattle roam freely over the high country, rivers radiate across the landscape and early settlers travel, hunt and carve out an existence on the plains – the horse was king. It was inevitable that the stockmen and drovers would want to compete against each other. It began as an informal challenge, a race between two towns for bragging rights as to the best horse and rider. Before long the 'sport' evolved into a more structured race with primitive courses and townsfolk wagering on the outcome. Whether you know nothing of Deloraine's racing history or you have decades of memories, this exhibition invites you to connect with both its long and more recent past. Due to the popularity of this exhibition it will be extended until further notice.