Cairns Art Gallery

Zanny Begg: These Stories Will Be Different

Zanny Begg These Stories Will be Different brings together the artist’s most significant video installations which works toy with traditional storytelling conventions & explore contested histories.

Exhibitions

Event Details

Category

Exhibitions

Event Starts

Feb 7, 2026 09:30

Event Ends

May 2, 2026 17:00

Venue

Cairns Art Gallery, Mulgrave Building

Location

51 Esplanade, Cairns City QLD, Australia

Curated by UNSW Galleries, Zanny Begg These Stories Will be Different brings together the artist’s most significant video installations, including City of Ladies (with Elise McLeod, 2017), The Beehive (2018) and Stories of Kannagi (2019). 

All my work has been about ways of living and inhabiting the world … how we can live in the world differently. I am not sure if art alone can create a different world – but it can help us see how one could come into existence, and the ways in which we can contribute to this process.

– Zanny Begg, artist

Born in 1972 in Melbourne and now living in Bulli, on Dharawal land on the south coast of New South Wales, Zanny Begg is an award-winning artist and filmmaker whose work has been exhibited widely in Australia. Her practice incorporates film, drawing and installation and is interested in exploring contested histories.

These Stories Will be Different brings together a fascinating series of works that reimagine a medieval feminist utopia, probe the unsolved murder of a high-profile anti-gentrification campaigner and explore the connections between love, loss, and language in migrant communities in Australia. The videos tell stories, but they also challenge the conventions of storytelling. Begg’s work invites you to see the world differently by drawing on ancient literary traditions, non-linear timeframes, and computer-generated randomisation.

Zanny Begg is an unparalleled visual storyteller. Her works present kaleidoscopic impressions of people and events through interviews, performance, and computer-generated re-sequencing that make the experience of viewing her work endlessly fascinating.

– José Da Silva, Director of UNSW Galleries

A UNSW Galleries and Museums & Galleries of NSW touring exhibition.
Showing at Cairns Art Gallery, Mulgrave Building

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri // 9:30am–5:00pm
Sat // 10:00am–5:00pm
Sun // Closed

Image: Zanny Begg, Stories of Kannagi 2019 (still), Image courtesy of the artist

For more information click here