BANK Art Museum Moree has announced its 2026 exhibition program, highlighted by the presentation of the 2026 Archibald Prize finalists later this year.
BAMM will host the Archibald Prize exhibition from September 11 to October 10.
The prestigious touring exhibition from the Art Gallery of New South Wales will feature finalist portraits and provides a major cultural event for the Moree region.
This year, BAMM will deliver major exhibitions, touring partnerships and artist opportunities, positioning the gallery at the centre of cultural life in regional New South Wales.
BAMM launched its 2026 season last week, with From This Place, a significant presentation drawn from the BAMM Collection.
From This Place features artists Joe Furlonger, Lucy Culliton, Luke Sciberas, Euan MacLeod, Margaret Adams, Jim Stanley, Beverley Budgen, Breast Plates of King and Queen Billy and Maggie Barlow, Lawrence Leslie, Peg McCumstie, Michael Riley, Paula Duncan and Kate Illbury.
The exhibition explores artistic responses to Moree and the surrounding plainsand how Moree has been interpreted through contemporary artistic practice over the past 50 years.
Guests last Thursday included Moree Plains Shire mayor Susannah Pearse and deputy mayor Wayne Tighe, councillor Fred McGrady and his wife Pat, Tourism Moree’s Julie Rushby, Margi Kirkby, Henry and Gig Moses, former Moree Plains Shire mayor Mark Johnson and his wife Helen, Jude Munro, Matthew and Catherine Madden, BAMM chair Annabelle Simpson and her husband Jim, board directors Elizabeth Von Gavel and Leigh Carroll, Norman Macey, David and Jane Manchee, Peter and Jenni Birch, artists Mona Fernando and Paula Duncan, Richard and Sandy Dillon and BAMM curator Rosie Dennis.
Ms Dennis said the 2026 program reflects ambition and deep community connection.
“BAMM is more than a regional art gallery – it is the cultural heartbeat for Moree,” Ms Dennis said. “During 2025 we welcomed more than 10,000 visitors to the gallery and we hope to increase that number this year with a program that’s big on community and youth engagement, and contemporary reflections on place and Country.”
Elsewhere, which expands the dialogue to artists interpreting place across Australia, will exhibit alongside From This Place.
Across 2026, BAMM will present a diverse and thought-provoking program, including Penny Evans’ IN Black and White, Joan Ross’ Let’s Party Like It’s 1815, Mona Fernando’s Gamil-array-Thuuraay Light, alongside Fire as Author, Sensitised and Sentimental and Traces of the Hand.
The BAMM Regional Art Fair also returns in 2026.
A major highlight this year will be the presentation of the Archibald Prize, bringing one of Australia’s most celebrated art awards to Moree audiences and reinforcing the gallery’s national profile.
The program is delivered in partnership with leading cultural institutions, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australian Museum, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Museum of Art and Culture Yapang.
BAMM’s 2026 program will continue expanding access to cultural experiences in regional communities and confirms the gallery’s role as an important cultural anchor for Moree, contributing to the vibrancy of the region.
Current Exhibitions
From This Place: February 13 – April 18, 2026
Explores how Moree has been interpreted through contemporary artistic practice over the past five decades.
Elsewhere: Beyond the Moree Plains: February 13 – April 18, 2026
An invitation to look outward – across distance, memory and Country – to landscapes shaped by lives lived elsewhere.
Between Peaks and Silence: February 13 – April 18, 2026
Gathers Frank Hurley’s rare, luminous studies of place – where land becomes theatre and stillness becomes sound.
Attitudes (Revisited): February 13 – April 18, 2026
John Williams grew up on the land near Moree and the region has informed much of his photographic practice. In 2001, John Williams, who grew up on the land near Moree, produced Attitudes, a series of portraits showing well-known Moree personalities.
For more information contact Rosie Dennis, Curator, BAMM Gallery at director@bamm.org.au or (02) 5764 0955.
