Media Release
2 November 2026
You are invited to a media preview:
- 11:00 am Friday 6 November
Ground Floor, State Library and Archives of Tasmania, 91 Murray Street, Nipaluna/Hobart
A new exhibition questioning how we remember history is launching at State Library and Archives of Tasmania on Saturday 7 November 2026.
Tasmanian artist Robert O’Connor has exhibited internationally in Paris, New York, and Chile. He won the 2020 Glover Prize and has been a finalist in the Glover, Kilgour, Percival and McGivern Prizes.
As the 2024 Creative Fellow at the State Library and Archives of Tasmania, O’Connor explored kilometres of stored archives, focusing on the ephemera collection.
The ephemera collection is a sprawling archive of posters, fliers, advertisements, newsletters and other paper traces of everyday life. Often overlooked, these fragments can reveal as much about a place and its people as any official record.
Libraries Tasmania Executive Director Patrick Gregory said, ‘The Creative Fellowship recognises that creativity can unlock new ways of understanding who we are. Robert’s project is a fantastic example of how the fellowship program can open our lesser-known collections to new audiences and conversations.’
In Remixing the Archives, O’Connor has reassembled archival fragments into richly layered prints. The exhibition also features sculptures containing old VHS tapes, copied paintings, and a homemade dagger, at once preserved and ruined within resin blocks.
Exhibition Curator Theia Connell said, ‘From religion and philosophy to community campaigns and advertising, Robert remixes material from the ephemera collection into a dense and unexpected map of Tasmanian culture.’
O’Connor lives in Nipaluna/Hobart. He draws together art history, advertising and found material to test how nostalgia and authenticity are constructed.
Communications and Marketing – 6165 6386 or 0417 465 669
