Wendy Hubert, Yindjibarndi Elder and acclaimed artist, travels from Ngurrawaana in the Pilbara, Western Australia to Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery on Dharug Country, western Sydney to create a special garden for the 25th Biennale of Sydney: Rememory.
In collaboration with Juluwarlu Art Group from her community at Ngurrawaana on Yindjibarndi Country in the Pilbara, Western Australia, Wendy Hubert and others from her community are undertaking an important journey across Australia to share her culture. Yindjibarndi Nyinyart at Wendy’s Garden, 2026 is a collaborative installation created in the garden of Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery (PRG). This work has been commissioned for the 25th Biennale of Sydney: Rememory. taking place from 14 March to 14 June 2026, with free public entry. PRG joins the Biennale for the first time as an exhibition partner, with White Bay Power Station, Art Gallery of NSW, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney.
Nyinyart is an important principle of Yindjibarndi Birdarra law, representing reciprocity and mutual support: each person in the community must look after each other and look after Country, so Country looks after the community. Hubert will share these strong values in her garden, created with sand, rocks and dried plants from her Country transported by truck and trailer on the long road trip, in collaboration with the Juluwarlu Art Group collective and Yindjibarndi Rangers. The garden will include native plants from Dharug Country where PRG stands on Dyarubbin (Nepean River). The Yindjibarndi people will collaborate with local Dharug people and the wider community during their time at PRG. The garden will represent four important Yindjibarndi sacred sites, inviting visitors to sit and contemplate what reciprocity with Country means for us all. An offering of cultural generosity and connection, Wendy’s Garden also reflects on the effects of colonisation on the Australian landscape including the imposition of gardens, constructed as the invasion of settlement spread. It speaks powerfully to the Biennale’s theme of Rememory. as Wendy recalls the gardens on the stations where she grew up with exotic plants such as mango and passionfruit.
An existing banana tree in the garden at PRG will feature in the installation, and the creative process includes the journey of bringing natural elements from Yindjibarndi Country then assembling them here. Juluwarlu Art Group will also perform dances referencing the five principles by which Yindjibarndi people have lived in harmony with Country for thousands of years: Ngurra (Home), Wangga (Truth, Language), Galharra (Kinship), Birdarra (Ceremony) and Nyinyart (Reciprocity). Wendy’s Garden offers a space for yarning, listening, sharing and learning about caring for Country for all people. An exhibition of Wendy Hubert’s paintings will be presented alongside Wendy’s Garden in PRG’s Lewers House Gallery.
Other Biennale highlights at PRG include Nora Adwan’s Pomegranates/Rumman, 2021/2026. This installation of more than 100 ceramic pomegranates contains speakers connected to weather sensors installed outside the gallery. The soundtrack played inside depends on conditions outside – dry weather triggers sounds of Norway where the artist lives; if it’s wet, sounds from Jordan where her family lives. The work is a physical and aural invocation of the yearning for home and disruption of displacement, creating an uneasy dual identity. On 14 March at PRG, the artist hosts At the Table with Nora Adwan, a hands-on morning of cooking, storytelling and shared eating.
Maya Kaqchikel artist Fernando Poyon from Guatemala presents Bringing joy to the earth, 2025. He has used 1500 cedarwood pencils to sculpt hanging milpas (corn stalks) representing the wellspring of Indigenous knowledge passed down by the artist’s grandmother, mother and the Earth itself. Poyon has previously used pencils to symbolise the corruption of Indigenous Kaqchikel language and knowledge by Western education systems. This time, each pencil’s ubiquitous pink rubber end is missing, with these works rejecting cultural erasure to become tools of growth. Fernando Poyon will be part of the free public program of Spotlight Talks with Exhibiting Artists at PRG on 14 March.
Other artists showing at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery are Chang Wen-Hsuan (Taiwan/Netherlands), Deidre Mahony (Ireland), Keith Piper (United Kingdom), Khalid Albaih (Romania/Norway), Kulpreet Singh (India), Massinissa Selmani (Algeria/France), Monica Rani Rudhar (Australia), and Nil Yalter (Turkey/France).
Acting Director of Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, Joanna Gilmour said, “We are delighted to be part of Rememory. and to share the works of these outstanding artists from all over the world. We are looking forward to fostering strong connections between the different artists and with audiences, those who are familiar with our unique gallery, former home of Margo and Gerald Lewers, and those who are visiting for the first time.”
PRG was selected as a venue by Hoor Al Qasimi, Artistic Director of the Biennale’s 25th edition and President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation she founded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2009. Director of the UAE’s Sharjah Biennial since 2002, she was appointed International Biennial Association President in 2017, and curated the acclaimed Sharjah Biennial 15 in 2023.
Al Qasimi said: “Sydney has a multicultural community at its core, with people from different cultures from across the world choosing and calling this vibrant city as their home. I’m interested in exploring the multifaceted cultures and perspectives here, working with local artists and communities, as well as bringing new voices to the Biennale.”
Key Details
- When: 14 March – 14 June 2026, open daily 10am-4pm, free entry
- Where: Lewers, Penrith Regional Gallery, 86 River Road, Emu Plains
More information and tickets: penrithregionalgallery.com.au
