Located in the heart of Victoria’s south-west is Hamilton, a thriving regional centre built on generations of farming and a renowned wool industry. It’s a stone’s throw to the Grampians National Park, and even closer to Victoria’s most recently active volcano, Mount Napier. Now, the city is also hosting what is described as one of the most ambitious regional exhibitions, Emerging From Darkness: Faith, Emotion and The Body in the Baroque, at Hamilton Gallery.
What is quite remarkable about Emerging From Darkness is the strength of its partnerships, which go beyond “business as usual”. For example, while it is common for the NGV to lend works from its Australian Collection, this is rarely the case for its International Collection, due to many works being on permanent display in Melbourne and the costs, as well as human resources, associated with hosting these works regionally. In Emerging From Darkness, over 40 pieces come from the NGV Collection; the exhibition was strategically timed with the NGV Triennial 2023 to enable the NGV to fill the gaps in some of the permanent displays.
