‘I wanted to represent the transience of the street, where you’re there for a split second and then you’re gone.’
Trent Parke
Few symbols define the modern era as powerfully—or persistently—as the automobile. Fuelled by the legacy of the film Mad Max, Full Throttle presents the car as a lens through which to examine contemporary life.
The exhibition brings together artists who challenge the myths and meanings built around cars. Sarah Lucas’s dismembered, cigarette-covered Jaguar, Trent Parke’s raw Bathurst series, Margaret Dodd’s playful ceramic Holdens and the Tjanpi Desert Weavers’ giant woven Toyota, among other artworks, confront themes of gender, power, performance and national identity. From post-apocalyptic myth to suburban realism, the car is shown as a connector and divider, saviour, destroyer and muse. This exhibition does not glorify the automobile—it interrogates it.
Event Details:
Dates: 5 Dec 2026 – 29 Mar 2027
Location: Level 1, Gallery 12 - NGA Australia