Ngaoara Fellowship
The Ngaoara Fellowship is an opportunity for an emerging First Nations artist to hold a funded solo exhibition at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery alongside an established First Nations artist and mentor. The Fellowship includes artist fees and up to $10,000 in production costs.
Bagandha yanggamba-ngga, Nicole Smede, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery 2025
Video filmed by Tad Souden for Shoalhaven Regional Gallery 2025.
"Here, Country, experience, history and truth speak through every artwork—rusted metal in Karla Dickens’ Resist the System, the layered patterns of Jaz Corr’s Woven, the shadow and flicker of Single Channel, where stories rise and dissolve like tidal water. To find myself here, exhibiting alongside these artists, is a gift. As the inaugural recipient of the Ngaoara (Black Cockatoo) First Nations Emerging Artist Award, whose practice has long been rooted in poetry and music, stepping into the gallery with a work in a medium I have only recently touched, feels like both a risk and a homecoming. An opportunity to leap. True to its name, this award is a transformation of form, space and time, and encourages to be bold, to stretch, and imagine", Nicole Smede, 2025.
First Nations Fellowship 2025
In 2025 Shoalhaven Regional Gallery held the inaugural First Nations Fellowship, a funded exhibition and mentorship opportunity with Karla Dickens. Nicole Smede won with her project, Bagandha yanggamba-ngga - ‘Country sings in me’, a nine-channel video and sound installation that speaks to the origins of traditional languages and the reciprocal exchange between Country, human and non-human kin. Nicole Smede is a multi-disciplinary artist of Warrimay, Irish and English heritage, living and creating on Wadi Wadi Dharawal Country. A trained vocalist, Nicole's voice has been heard on Triple J, globally on award-winning film scores, and graced the stages of City Retail Hall, Parliament House, MONA FOMA festival, galleries and venues across Australia. Bagandha yanggamba-ngga - ‘Country sings in me’ is Nicole's first multi-channel video installation.
In 2026 this opportunity will run again relaunched under the new name the Ngaoara Fellowship.
The winner of the Ngaoara Fellowship is Aaron Kennedy
Aaron William Kennedy is a proud Jerrinja and Djirringanj, Yuin man from the Yuin Nation. Born and raised in Sydney, NSW. Finishing a BFA with Honours at UNSW Art and Design, he is majoring in Printmaking and Painting. Inspired by a school-based immersion program in Yulara, NT, exposure to Central Desert art is what started his journey in the arts. Aaron continues to travel to the NSW South Coast to learn from Country and his Yuin Elders. He uses knowledge and observation of landscapes, artworks, and patterns, which connects to his Country. He interweaves his passion for culture with his art.
Creatures of the South Coast will promote South Coast art and culture to local and broader arts community. Featuring a series of lino prints representing significant local animals, Aaron will work with Elders and the community to bring knowledge of South Coast Country to the exhibition showcasing a strong and thriving culture.
“My connection to Shoalhaven is through my grandfather, and my great grandmother who were born and raised in Jerrinja. This fellowship will allow me to express my connection to the South Coast and my sense of belonging on Country”.
This opportunity will be offered again in 2027 please join the mailing list to find out more.