Portland is hosting a once-in-a-generation art encounter this fall. The Portland Art Museum presents The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, on view September 5, 2026 through January 3, 2027 — the only West Coast presentation of the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever shown in North America.
Drawn exclusively from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the show brings together more than 100 works by more than 130 artists, celebrating the creativity of more than 250 distinct Indigenous nations and the world’s oldest continuous living culture. Visitors will meet trailblazers such as Anmatyerr superstar Emily Kam Kngwarray and Senior Yolŋu artist Gulumbu Yunupiŋu, after whom the exhibition is titled, alongside contemporary innovators Brook Andrew, Destiny Deacon and Betty Muffler.
The galleries at 1219 SW Park Avenue are filled with ochre bark paintings, experimental weavings, immersive sound and video art, and powerful photographs, tracing pivotal moments from the late 19th century to today. Organized by the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and coordinated in Portland by Kathleen Ash-Milby, the museum’s Senior Curator of Native American Art, it is a joyful, eye-opening journey for art lovers and curious families alike — and children 17 and under always enter free.
Photo: Portland Art Museum — Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anwerlarr Anganenty (Big Yam Dreaming) (detail), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
