PARKES.- Professor Lisa Slade will deliver the National Gallery of Australia’s Annual Lecture – examining the ideas, influences and institutions that shape our understanding of Australian Art.

On Thursday 1 October 2026 at 6.30pm, Professor Lisa Slade, the Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art at the University of Melbourne, will present the free lecture, Australian Art: who decides?, at the National Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra and online. Following the lecture, Professor Slade will be joined by acclaimed Australian artist Richard Lewer for a special interactive in-conversation.

Drawing on decades of scholarship and curatorial practice, Professor Slade will explore how Australian art histories are constructed, challenged and reimagined. Beginning with a challenge and ending with a call to action – the 2026 Annual Lecture explores contemporary debates about art, history and representation.

Professor Slade will present a lecture on Australian art that started with the discovery of a t-shirt in the archive of the late Australian artist Ann Newmarch, and is now held in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. The t-shirt carries the provocation: AUSTRALIAN ART? WHO DECIDES? In wearing this t-shirt, Newmarch, a leading Feminist figure, was questioning the canon.

Continuing Newmarch’s enquiry – Professor Slade will carry it forward into a contemporary reckoning with Australian art and its histories. Along the way, she will position the canon not as a fait accompli but as a work in progress.





The audience will be challenged to stake their claim in the art history game as special guest and 2026 Archibald Prize winner, Richard Lewer, joins Professor Slade for a live confessional about Australian art, its histories and its future.

Coinciding with the Annual Lecture, Professor Slade will also present NGA Art Talks: The Gleeson Tapes, a new podcast series that revisits and reframes key conversations from the James Gleeson Oral History Collection. Originally recorded in the late 1970s, the project saw the surrealist artist and writer James Gleeson interview close to 100 artists in the national collection, creating a unique snapshot of Australian art. The first six episodes will be released via the Gallery's NGA Art Talks podcast feed from September.

Professor Lisa Slade: ‘This Annual Lecture at the National Gallery is about opening up the conversation around Australian art and recognising that all of us play a role in shaping history and culture. By inviting audiences to contribute to the conversation, the Annual Lecture seeks to demystify art, decentralise authority and demonstrate that art history is not fixed, but constantly being shaped.’

First presented in 1983, the National Gallery’s Annual Lecture has been given by some of the world’s most significant figures in the arts including art historians such as Elisabeth McGrath (1988), T.J Clark (1994), Glenn Lowry (2014) and more.

Dr Nick Mitzevich, Director, National Gallery: ‘Professor Lisa Slade is one of Australia's most influential voices in the field of art history and curatorial practice. This year's Annual Lecture at the National Gallery offers an important opportunity to reflect on how Australian art histories are formed and who has the power to shape them. It is a timely conversation that speaks directly to the future of cultural institutions and audiences alike. The contribution of Richard Lewer brings a uniquely participatory dimension to the evening, inviting audiences to contribute their own stories and become active participants in the conversation about Australian art and culture.’