Artspace Editions Launches with Daniel Boyd, Supporting Artists and Their Futures

Daniel Boyd

The inaugural Artspace Editions have been created with Daniel Boyd, a Kudjala, Ghungalu, Wangerriburra, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Kuku Yalanji, Bundjalung, Yuggera and ni-Vanuatu artist whose practice interrogates how images shape our understanding of history, identity and the world around us. One of Australia’s most highly regarded artists, Boyd’s work is held in major international collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where his work is currently on view.

A recurring source for Boyd’s work is The Australian Children’s Pictorial Social Studies, a series of mid-century educational publications that introduced generations of Australian schoolchildren to a carefully constructed vision of the nation. First published in 1958, the series transformed invasion into exploration, dispossession into progress and Indigenous presence into a prelude to the Australian nation.

Boyd revisits and reinterprets this imagery across the Artspace Editions, exposing the ways visual culture participates in the production of historical consciousness and questioning how colonial narratives are represented, taught and understood as history.

Meet the artist >

The Artspace Edition

For Artspace Editions, Daniel Boyd has created three limited-edition works: a woodcut print, a silkscreen T-shirt and a 24-page colouring book.

The woodcut print, Untitled (AEYTMCES), centres on the motif of the ‘drowning man’, drawn from the colonial myth of the Inland Sea and a recurring reference in the work of Australian artist Gordon Bennett. Developed through a collaborative printmaking process with Artspace and the National Art School, the edition extends Boyd’s interrogation of how images reproduce, obscure and reshape the histories we inherit.

The same body of imagery is reinterpreted in Untitled (WCWDWG), a wearable artwork featuring silkscreen imagery drawn from The Australian Children’s Pictorial Social Studies. Designed in collaboration with Practise, the T-shirt exposes how colonial narratives have been embedded within Australian education and visual culture.

Completing the inaugural series, Thar She Blows is a 24-page colouring book featuring 20 drawings by Boyd, reinterpreting imagery from the same mid-century educational publications. Playful and subversive, the book invites readers to reconsider the images and narratives through which Australian history has been taught.

Daniel Boyd, Artist, said:
'Cultural transference is so important to belonging, the arts are what has sustained the oldest and continuous culture on earth. And I feel that it’s a responsibility of mine to help wherever and whenever possible.'

Victor Wang, Executive Director, Artspace, said:
'We’re incredibly honoured to work with Daniel Boyd as the inaugural artist for Artspace Editions. What makes this collaboration particularly special is that we’ve worked closely with Daniel to identify different threads within his practice that audiences can engage with and explore, creating multiple points of entry into the ideas, histories and visual language that run through his work. Supporting artists has always been at the heart of Artspace, and Editions extends that relationship between artist and audience while directly supporting new commissions, experimentation, production and residencies, giving artists the time, resources and space to take risks and realise ambitious new work.'

Meet the Editions >

Launch Celebration

Artspace Editions will officially launch at Artspace on Thursday 15 October 2026, 6–9pm, with a free public celebration bringing together artists, collectors, supporters and the broader Artspace community.

The evening will be the first opportunity to experience the inaugural Daniel Boyd editions together in person, with the launch featuring artist interventions, music, performance and activities across Artspace’s foyer and Multipurpose Space.

Proceeds from Artspace Editions, merchandise, drinks and raffle tickets support Artspace’s work with artists — from exhibitions and commissions to residencies, public programs and opportunities for artists to develop and present ambitious new work.

Free, bookings essential. Register now >

Learn more about supporting Artspace:
Sarah Runcie
development@artspace.org.au

For media enquiries:
Florence McGlynn
communications@artspace.org.au