EXHIBITION / Karla Dickens / Locked On
23rd August – 16th November, 2025
“I’m not a politician; I’m an artist, a storyteller. With my art, I talk about my personal experiences, Australia’s history and current ways of being. I don’t set out to make political statements. I am political simply because I am who I am – a queer mother, a cross-culture Blak Fella and a willing warrior for truthful story telling.” – Karla Dickens
OPENING EVENT / Saturday 23 August, 2 – 4pm
NEW ANNUAL FESTIVAL / 26 September – 5 October
A “lock-on” is a powerful, non-violent civil disobedience tactic used by protesters–using bicycle locks, handcuffs and other DIY materials–to secure themselves in their place of protest.
Honouring the legacy of non-violent protest, Karla Dickens presents her first solo exhibition in Muloobinba/Newcastle for New Annual, a “lock-on at The Lock-Up”. Addressing themes of climate crises through the artist’s ecofeminism, Locked On interrogates the legacies of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy, and their effects on post-contact Aboriginal experiences and the natural world.
Part homage, part rallying cry, Locked On merges works from Dickens’ extensive repertoire and embodies both a statement on our volatile climate situation and an urgent call to action. Locked On presents a collection of the artist’s politically charged and deeply personal assemblages, highlighting recent presentations such as Rise and Fall, the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial and Embracing Shadows, alongside new commissions for The Lock-Up.
Renowned for her skill in transforming “found objects”, Dickens assembles discarded materials into new works, altering their meanings. Collaging and compressing the past and present, Dickens rearranges these objects and imagery to challenge Australian culture, contest historical narratives, and compel societal change.
Seeking to revive and awaken a new generation of environmental warriors, Locked On will be activated across the 10 days of New Annual by climate conversations, art-making workshops and a celebration of the divine feminine.
Exhibition Opening with Karla Dickens
Saturday 23 August, 2 – 4pm
Kick off our exhibition season of Locked On with us, as artist Karla Dickens guides us through the exhibition and featured works. Coffee and tea provided.
Book tickets HERE
Unlocked: New Annual Preview at The Lock‑Up
Thursday 25 September, 6–8 pm
Be the first to experience New Annual 2025 with Unlocked: New Annual Preview Night at The Lock‑Up to be launched by New Annual Artistic Director Tory Loudon, With an in-conversation between Karla Dickens, Khaled Sabsabi and TLU Director Alexandra Pedley.
Tickets: $20 — Limited capacity, Book tickets HERE
Arts in the Yard with Karla Dickens
Saturday 27 September, 10 – 12pm
Join us for a very special artist-led Arts in the Yard, a free art-making workshop for the whole family, hosted by artist Karla Dickens. Aimed at introducing children of all ages to contemporary arts practices in an entertaining and approachable way, enjoy the delight of learning and making and be inspired by the artist’s stories as you make your own work of art to take home.
Book tickets HERE
In Conversation with Karla Dickens
Saturday 27 September, 1 – 3pm
FREE HOT CHIPS
Join artist Karla Dickens in conversation. Find out how the art world landscape is shifting in the face of climate crisis. Details forthcoming.
Book tickets HERE
ABOUT KARLA DICKENS
Karla Dickens is an artist of Wiradjuri, Irish and German heritage, living and working in Goonellabah, Lismore, on Bundjalung Country in New South Wales. Through her multidisciplinary practice – spanning painting, photography, video, collage, sculpture and installation – Dickens brings a black humour to her unflinching interrogation of subjects such as race, gender and injustice. Described as a ‘found-object’ virtuoso, her practice often places overlooked or discarded objects into new contexts to interrogate Australian culture, contest histories and agitate for change. Dickens has exhibited throughout Australia and abroad since the early 1990s. In 2023, she opened a major survey exhibition spanning thirty years of her art practice, Embracing Shadows at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Her forthcoming solo exhibition, Rise and Fall, will open shortly at Bondi Pavilion as well as her presentation within the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.
Other recent significant exhibitions include the inaugural Universe Pavilion of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. RISING: Shadow Spirit, Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, curated by Kimberley Moulton (2023); Return to Sender, Carriageworks, Sydney (2022); 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN, Sydney (2020); Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2020); Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Monster Theatres, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2020); Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2017); and The National 2017: New Australian Art, Carriageworks, Sydney (2017). Dickens’ work is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; National Art School, Sydney; Australian Museum, Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney among others.
