EXHIBITIONS
The UMI Arts Gallery in Manoora, Gimuy/Cairns, holds five exhibitions every year featuring the artwork and crafts of our talented member artists. Each exhibition has a different theme and rationale, and showcases artists at different stages of their artistic career, from emerging to established. All gallery artworks are available for viewing and purchase in the online shop, and you can also view past exhibition catalogues below!
Current exhibition
The Summer Show
You & Me
SHOWING AT THE UMI ARTS GALLERY UNTIL 17TH JUNE 2026
The Summer Show is an annual exhibition showcasing the work of our members and celebrating the rhythms of the tropical summer in Far North Queensland. This season brings dramatic changes to the landscape, intense sunlight, heavy rains, lush greenery, and powerful storms and cyclones that shape life across the region. Featuring 13 artists and 35 artworks, The Summer Show 2026 brings together a variety of materials, perspectives, and artistic voices. Each piece tells its own story while adding to a broader reflection o n life in the tropical north. Together, the artworks invite audiences to experience the beauty, power, and spirit of nature through the eyes of First Nations artists and their lasting bond to Country.
UMI is a Creole word meaning “you and me,” a sentiment that speaks to the unity, collaboration, and shared responsibility at the heart of UMI Arts. Presented annually at the beginning of the year, You & Me is a curated group exhibition featuring selected UMI Arts member artists. Each participating artist honours their ancestors, shares intergenerational knowledge, and continues the rich storytelling traditions that connect people to Country, culture, and community. This year’s exhibition brings together a vibrant collection of acrylic paintings on canvas, polymer‑clay works, monotype prints, headdresses, and woven sculptures. Showcasing the talents of both emerging and mid‑career artists, You & Me celebrates the spirit of unity and collaboration that guides UMI Arts’ mission to support and preserve First Nations arts and culture.
PAST Exhibtions
FRESHWATER SALTWATER
@ Mulgrave Gallery
UMI Arts’ Special
20th Anniversary Exhibition
2025
In our 20th Anniversary commemorative exhibition, UMI Arts is proud to showcase artworks from some of our talented long-standing members at the newly refurbished Mulgrave Gallery. As a testament to its achievement, the exhibition will feature 20 artists from across our region with over 100 artworks on display from 28th of June to 23rd August 2025. The name “Freshwater” symbolises the Aboriginal nations of Far North Queensland, where rivers flow across the land and through the rainforest from coastal Cardwell to the Cape York Peninsula. “Saltwater” represents the Island nations and Torres Strait people, who are surrounded by the oceans.
FRESHWATER SALTWATER
UMI Arts’ Annual Senior Members Exhibition
2025
Freshwater Saltwater is UMI Arts’ signature annual group exhibition celebrating the incredible talent and cultural strength of our senior and established member artists. In 2025, we proudly present 30+ new works by 12 of our most established First Nations artists from across Far North Queensland. The exhibition title reflects a powerful ideology: mainland Aboriginal custodians, deeply connected to freshwater, and Torres Strait Islander peoples, surrounded by and connected to saltwater. As freshwater flows through rivers and streams to meet the coastal sea, these two sacred elements come together — just as our diverse cultures do.
CULTURE THROUGH OUR EYES
FIRST NATIONS YOUTH EXHIBITION
Culture Through Our Eyes is a vibrant annual group exhibition celebrating the talents of young First Nations artists from Cairns and surrounding communities. The exhibition presents the works of 19 talented students, featuring 31 artworks. Each student shares their unique approach to conveying emotions and stories through various mediums, including acrylic paintings, photography, lino prints, and lino block prints on fabrics. The artworks illustrate the harmonious connection between traditional and modern interpretations within the Young First Nation visual art movement from FNQ and the Torres Strait Islands.
YOU & ME
2025
“You & Me” is a curated group exhibition featuring UMI Arts member artists, held at the beginning of each year. The exhibition aims to showcase the artistic passion and poetic strength involved in preserving and sharing First Nations stories in a unique and compelling way. Together, our voices carry more weight, ensuring that future generations honour and maintain our traditions and culture. This year, the exhibition features fifteen acrylic paintings on canvas from six established First Nations artists.
THE SUMMER SHOW
2024 -2025
The Summer Show is an annual exhibition of UMI Arts member artists, whose works reflect the dynamic, electrical energy of a northern summer. Across the Far North we feel the temperature building in this late part of the year, and in the tropics we start to feel also the water in the air, the storms and rains we know are to come.
‘Exhibition-Ready’ Graduate Exhibition
Jinneecka Don
& Cecelia Slade
2024
UMI Arts is proud to present two inaugural solo exhibitions by our 2024 ‘Exhibition Ready’ Program Graduates, JINNEECKA DON and CECELIA SLADE.
Since 2023, these two member artists have been thoughtfully building bodies of works inspired by their own memories and experiences. Each of our annual exhibitions holds a special place in our hearts, but the Graduates Exhibition brings a unique joy. It’s a moment to witness emerging artists take a bold step toward their first solo showcase, and to see their confidence and artistry flourish.
Since 2023, these two member artists have been thoughtfully building bodies of works inspired by their own memories and experiences. Each of our annual exhibitions holds a special place in our hearts, but the Graduates Exhibition brings a unique joy. It’s a moment to witness emerging artists take a bold step toward their first solo showcase, and to see their confidence and artistry flourish.
FRESHWATER SALTWATER
group members exhibition
2024
Freshwater Saltwater, a highly anticipated annual curated group exhibition, is a vibrant celebration of the diverse artistic expressions of Far North Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities. The exhibition is based around the holistic existence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Freshwater represents the Aboriginal nations of Far North Queensland, with rivers flowing across the land and through the rainforest from coastal Cardwell to the Cape York Peninsula. Saltwater represents the Island nations and Torres Straight people, surrounded by the ocean.
This year, UMI Arts showcases fourteen established artists across the region, with over twenty-four artworks in large formats, with jewellery with the same theme and inspiration.
CULTURE THROUGH OUR EYES
first nations youth exhibition
2024
‘Culture Through our Eyes’ is the third annual First Nations youth exhibition @ UMI Arts Gallery, showcasing the talent and creativity of the young people of the region. 14 young emerging artists have created 27 new artworks responding to their concept and view of culture.
Come and join us to help celebrate these deadly emerging artists!
