The Australian National Maritime Museum will open a free outdoor exhibition of Peter Drew's compelling AUSSIE poster series on August 28, bringing one of Australia's most recognisable public art projects to the museum's Wharf 7 forecourt.
Presented in an open-air public setting, the AUSSIES exhibition invites visitors and the broader community to reflect on Australian identity, belonging and the many migration stories that have shaped the nation.
Peter Drew's posters are known for placing archival portraits of culturally diverse people alongside the word "AUSSIE", prompting audiences to reconsider who is included in Australia's national story and what it means to belong. His AUSSIE series of posters were acquired by the Museum and added to the National Collection in 2016.
Peter Drew said, 'Ultimately the posters are an opportunity for people on the street to identify with the people in the posters. When we gaze upon the other and feel their gaze returned, we recognise ourselves within the other and, for a moment, all boundaries dissolve. That's my aim.'
Migration is one of the Australian National Maritime Museum's key pillars. Through exhibitions, collections and public programs, the museum explores the journeys that have connected people to this continent by sea and the ways those journeys continue to shape Australia's multicultural society.
Australian National Maritime Museum Director and CEO Ms Daryl Karp AM said the exhibition offered an important opportunity to open up respectful dialogue about multiculturalism and belonging.
'Australia's multicultural make up is fundamental to who we are and how we live,' Ms Karp said. 'As the national maritime museum, we tell stories of movement, migration and connection, stories that remind us that Australia has always been shaped by people arriving, settling, contributing and belonging. Peter Drew's AUSSIE posters are powerful because they make a simple but profound statement about who we recognise as part of the Australian story.'
'We know that no one leaves their country of birth on a whim. Migration is almost always an act of hope: hope for safety and security, hope for opportunity, hope for education, hope for a better life for children and family. That journey of hope is what binds migrant stories together, whatever the place of departure or arrival.'
'We are presenting this exhibition outdoors and free to the public because these are conversations that belong in shared public space. Positioned adjacent to the National Monument to Migration, the posters invite visitors to consider the personal journeys and collective histories that have helped shape contemporary Australia. We want to foster respectful dialogue around identity and inclusion, and to encourage visitors to reflect on the diverse stories that have helped create contemporary Australia.'
The exhibition will be installed in the museum's Wharf 7 forecourt, creating an accessible encounter with Drew's work outside the traditional gallery environment and connecting the posters to the museum's harbour-side setting.
The exhibition opens on August 28.
