ART ALMANAC Magazine // February 2026

How does reflection – both on recent and longer art legacies – enrich the art we have, the works underway, and what is still to come?

This is a key question of our February 2026 issue. To get you thinking, ahead of time, we start with two previews. Emma-Kate Wilson takes a look at Gracie Greene – It’s Time, opening at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery on 14 February. Sadly, Greene passed away in July, but as Wilson’s discussion with exhibition curator Lee Kinsella shows us, while sadness is to be expected, this show is also a celebration and an opportunity for multiple viewpoints into her legacies, on which the artist herself – on hearing of the exhibition – said: “it’s about time”.

Also temporally concerned, Sophia Halloway sees works in progress for Louis Grant’s Canberra Glassworks show End to End; an extension of the artist’s investigation into queering glass, Halloway discovers how the artist’s tendency to recycle, reclaim, and reuse materials and parts of his work lends itself to the nonlinear nature of queer time.

In another story on the subject of artists lost in recent memory, Bronwyn Watson selects a work from Theo Koning for the second outing of her ‘On display’ series. Available to view at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, as Watson’s long look reveals, the work – The Divine Labour The Great Secret, 1985 – offers us, in the words of AGWA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Isobel Wise: “a structure through which reflection can take place”.

While in another celebration of the contributions of women artists, our feature exhibition has an expanded timeframe, with Sasha Grishin offering a nuanced review of Women Photographers 1900–1975: A Legacy of Light (showing at NGV International, Melbourne until 3 May), explaining how this “refreshing” exhibition helps to complete our picture of twentieth-century photography.

Also including our usual national perspective on awards, industry, and guide to what’s on, February offers plenty of periods and practices for you to reflect on, including the fabulous work of Bordeaux-born, Melbourne-based painter Christophe Stibio on our cover – Stibio’s new body of works that draw inspiration from (a moment in) time itself.

Art Almanac | Australia's leading monthly guide to "what's on" in the arts: exhibitions, events, workshops, open studios, artist opportunities, art awards and services. February 2026 features $1m+ in art prizes/funding, 530+ galleries, and 340+ artists, both emerging and established.