Join us for the Exhibition OPENING NIGHT of GENESIS 2025 | Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise

OPENING NIGHT: 6pm- 8pm, Friday 22 August 2025

EXHIBITION DATES: 23 August - 2 November 2025

VENUE: Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, 24 Chapman Road, Geraldton, WA, 6530

people standing around a display

Image credit: GENESIS 2024 Opening Night at Geraldton Regional Art Gallery

GENESIS 2025
Midwest Survey of Secondary Student Art

GENESIS is Geraldton Regional Art Gallery’s annual high school exhibition - a survey of secondary student artistic skill and creativity in the Midwest region.

This exhibition features a selection of artwork from years 7-12, showcasing our emerging local artists in 2025.
Join us in celebrating the vibrancy of our enthusiastic young artists as they exhibit in a professional gallery setting.

Please note the Genesis Awards will be given out at the Awards Ceremony 2pm, Saturday 20 September 2025. Event RSVP via school.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise
Exhibition developed and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Maria Fernanda Cardoso is internationally renowned for using unconventional and organic materials to consider nature and its links to culture and science. Working across sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance, her work examines the connections and tensions between society and the natural world.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise presents new works from Cardoso’s Spiders of Paradise photographic series (2018–ongoing), alongside her acclaimed video work On the Origins of Art I-II (2016). Cardoso’s subject is the tiny Australian Maratus spider – measuring less than 5mm in size – and their unique, brightly-coloured abdomens, which form part of their elaborate mating rituals. Across a suite of large-scale photographs, the exquisite multi-coloured patterns of various species of Maratus are presented as individual portraits. Produced in collaboration with scientific imager Geoff Thompson and entomologist Andy Wang from the Queensland Museum, each image is comprised of over 1000 individual photos, which together reveal stunning nuances of colour and form in incredible detail.

Cardoso’s video On the Origins of Art I-II presents the complex courtship ritual of the Maratus at an immersive scale. It showcases the spiders’ sophisticated communication through dance and vibration, culminating in the display of their colourful patterned abdominal flap. Bringing together science, art and nature, this exhibition celebrates the beauty of the natural world and reveals the sophisticated lives of creatures not usually witnessed.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise is an exhibition developed and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Please note that photographs and footage will be taken throughout the evening. These will be used by the Gallery for publicity and reporting in our publications, on our website and in social media. Young people aged under 18 years must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

OPENING NIGHT: 6pm- 8pm, Friday 22 August 2025

EXHIBITION DATES: 23 August - 2 November 2025

VENUE: Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, 24 Chapman Road, Geraldton, WA, 6530

GENESIS 2025Midwest Survey of Secondary Student Art

GENESIS 2025
Midwest Survey of Secondary Student Art