The Sydney Biennale’s Artistic Director, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi has announced her full program, saying: “Rememory is shaped by artists and cultural practitioners who understand memory as something living—where history informs the present and repeats itself in different forms. Through their practices, histories that have been fragmented, erased or suppressed are revisited and reassembled, not as linear accounts but as shared and evolving acts of remembering. Drawing on personal, familial and collective experiences, the artists in this edition reveal how the past remains present, inviting audiences to engage actively with memory as a space of responsibility, reflection and possibility”.

The word everywhen springs to mind.

The event opens on 14th March, and Al Qasimi has added 33 artists and collectives for the 2026 edition, bringing the number of artists, collaborations and collectives to 83. 37 artists were announced last June of which 20 come from First Nations communities around the world. In total, the artists come from 37 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, India, USA, Argentina, Lebanon, France, Ireland, Ethiopia, Algeria and Taiwan.

As Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has once again worked with the BOS to commission 15 First Nations artists from around the world to create new work. These artists include the internationals Ángel and Fernando Poyón, Angélica Serech, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Edgar Calel, Gabriel Chaile, Tania Willard and Rose B. Simpson, and the locals Carmen Glynn-Braun (Kaytetye, Anmatyerr and Arrernte), Pitjanjatjarra man Frank Young & The Kulata Tjuta Project, Yolŋu modernist Gunybi Ganambarr, Saibai Islanders John Harvey & Walter Waia, Walmajarri satirist John Prince Siddon, Queen of the Gulf, Garrwa/Yanyuwa woman Nancy Yukuwal McDinny, and Brisbane’s Warraba Weatherall. And Richard Bell pops up everywhere!

They will work closely with First Nations Curatorial Fellow, Bruce Johnson McLean, from the Wangan clan of the Birri Gubba Nation, to realise their artworks. The Fondation Cartier has also backed the creative collaboration of Fitzroy Crossing’s Mervyn Street, a proud Gooniyandi man with Kinngaimmiut Inuk storyteller Ningiukulu Teevee from Canada, now showing on the Sydney Opera House’s roof as Badu Gili: Story Keepers.

For aboriginalartdirectory readers, though, the most exciting First Nations contribution to the Biennale will be the first appearance in Sydney of the mighty Ngurrara Canvas II. It was created in 1997 by Western Desert artists from the Walmajarri, Wangkajunga, Mangala, Manjilarra and Juwaliny language groups who had earlier migrated into the Kimberley around Fitzroy Crossing. Gathering at Pirnini Station near Fitzroy Crossing, the group decided that by co-authoring a painting they would be able to prove long association with their land. Monumental in scale, the painting is effectively a memory map charting 40,000 years of direct connection with the land. In fact, they did it twice – working up to this 80 metre square monster.

Artists involved in the painting include Jimmy Pike, Nyilpirr Spider Snell, Mawukura Jimmy Nerrimah and Tommy May Ngarralja. And Spider Snell proudly danced on the canvas in Canberra in 1997 when it was unfurled outside Parliament House. Sadly, though, as was revealed in the marvellous film, Putuparri and the Raindancers (which should be shown to accompany the Canvas) his sacred waterhole at Kurtal was not included in the Native Title consent where the painting was key evidence.

For, despite its travels around Australia and as far afield as the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, the most significant role the work has played was in the Ngurrara Native Title consent determination which was handed down by the Federal Court in 2007. For the elders were concerned with keeping knowledge and culture strong within their communities, and, since the late 1970s, the practice of making art has been a significant means of maintaining culture in the Kimberley region. The Ngurrara Canvas II 1997 is an example of this, created by artists who are the traditional owners of the Great Sandy Desert to communicate their peoples’ authority and knowledge of their country. This canvas has become more than a picture of country; it is country.

In court, Ngurrara man Peter Murray gave evidence that:
“The country has been our Ngurrara, our home and Country since the time of the Dreaming. I know that from the stories my old people who were told by their old people. As a young person I walked all across our Ngurrara Country with the old people. They showed me special places. They showed and told me things like where the jilas (water places) are right through that country. Places like Parkal Springs, Jindngu Springs, Balguna, Kurtal and Muningambin. There are many other places. I now look after these places and visit them often. Through the Ranger work I do it makes it easier for me to take the younger boys out and teach them about these places.

“As a Ngurrara Ranger I make sure that these places are not destroyed by the invasion of feral plants and animals. This helps keep these places strong, helps keep the stories strong, and this keeps our culture strong. I have a responsibility both as a Ngurrara Ranger and a traditional owner to protect and care for these places that are special to us. That is why our old people tell us about these places, the paintings, the songs and the stories. They tell us so we know what to protect and how to protect it”.

His Honour then observed:
“It is clear that Ngurrara people are present on their Country in the claim area, on a day to day basis, for a range of reasons. They gather food from it, they work to protect it, and they teach younger generations within the claim group about their Country. They perform ceremony, and keep up their obligations to Country, as their ancestors have done since time immemorial. The importance of claim group members being able to maintain their connection to Country, and to discharge their obligations to Country in both traditional and non-traditional ways, through initiatives such as ranger programs, cannot be overstated”.

The Canvas will be on show at the Art Gallery of NSW, one of five major exhibition sites for the 25th BOS: White Bay Power Station, Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Chau Chak Wing Museum, Campbelltown Arts Centre and The Lewers Bequest: Penrith Regional Gallery. This expanded footprint reflects a focus on inclusivity and access, particularly across Western Sydney, and will be further amplified through public programs hosted at additional venues throughout Greater Sydney, including Blouza Hall in Granville, Centenary Square Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, Marrickville Town Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Redfern, Parramatta Artist Studios, Redfern Town Hall and Sydney Town Hall.