Join us for this intimate conversation between our curator Nataša Golic and featured artists Catherine Bell + Martin King as they discuss the exhibition Eternal Oblivion death and the afterlife showing at McClelland from Saturday 23 August - Sunday 9 November 2025.

Eternal Oblivion is not just an exhibition, it’s a deep dive into the themes of mortality, memory, and the unknowable. Drawing from McClelland’s extraordinary collection, spanning the early 19th century to the present, it brings together works that explore our understanding of death and the mysteries that may lie beyond.

The idea for Eternal Oblivion was sparked by the legacy of Annie May McClelland, the gallery’s benefactor and an enduring patron of the arts. Her personal library, donated to the gallery, is filled with philosophical and spiritual texts exploring death, the afterlife, and the soul. Her curiosity became a guiding light for this show. Eternal Oblivion is a four-part journey through our shared questions and imagined answers to life’s most profound mystery: what happens after we die?

Image: Martin King, A breath, 2012, state etching on paper and drafting film, 104 x 270 cm. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program by Martin King 2013.