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Chau Chak Wing Museum

Exhibitions

Ancient and contemporary cultures explored through artworks, artefacts and diverse perspectives

Our ongoing and temporary exhibitions explore expansive themes across the collections. Entry is free to all exhibitions and booking is not required.

a collection of toggles in different stone and bone materials

Chinese Toggles: Culture in Miniature

A microcosm that manifested in a lost Chinese sartorial tradition

Detail of natural pigments on barkcloth

Ömie barkcloth: Pathways of nioge

Celebrating the unique and dynamic barkcloth art movement of the Ömie people of Papua New Guinea.

Ambassadors

Meet the 'Ambassadors', cultural materials gathered to speak the ancient knowledge of this country. An ongoing First Nations display.

Roman Spectres

Ghostly faces and names recorded in stone are reanimated through stories of life in the vibrant cities of the Roman world.

Impressions of Greece

Ancient Greek artefacts meet the landscapes of modern Greece captured by William J Woodhouse.

Crossroads

Working across clay, stone and metal, Cypriot artists developed rich creative traditions making Cyprus one of the cultural powerhouses of antiquity.

a black and white image of a stage with drapery and light shining through

Photography and the performative

An exhibition exploring the intersection between photography and performance.

Penelope and the Seahorse

Mikala Dwyer's aquatic-themed installation bristles with allusions to hippocampus

Natural Selections: animal worlds

The most intriguing bird, mammal, insect, fish and shell specimens from the Macleay Collections.

compass einscribed with R.B.Mc

Instrumental 3

Exploring measuring and mapping, this is the third display in our ongoing series featuring scientific instruments from the Macleay Collections.

Painting depicting land and sea

The Sherman Gift

Recent gifts of artworks from the collection of Dr Gene Sherman AM and the late Brian Sherman AM reveal a life of cultural engagement.

Ancient Cultures of the Middle East

From Ice Age villages to the Islamic world, encounter some of the earliest cities, writing, and religion.

Women sit around a table in a sepia toned old photograph

The Staged Photograph

This exhibition presents staged photographs taken between the mid-19^th and early 20^th centuries, illuminating the popular culture of the time.

The Egyptian Galleries

Two exhibitions, The Mummy Room and Pharaonic Obsessions, reveal new ideas about life in ancient Egypt and explore our fascination with the land of the Pharaohs.

Hercules: Myth and Legacy

Explore the labours of Hercules through the animals, art and cultural artefacts that have carried his name through the ages..

Mediterranean Identities

Homer named the Mediterranean ‘wine-dark sea’, its dangers disguised by its beauty.