Exhibition Dates: February 2026 to present

Curator: Holly Riding (Curatorial Director, December 2025 to present), Jeremy Smith (Curator from September 2023; Curatorial Assistant Coordinator September 2023 – April 2024; Assistant Curator from December 2025)

Installation Manager: Brett Lyons

Loving presents a rare and moving archive of same-sex intimacy, drawn from the internationally significant collection of Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell. Comprising over 4,000 photographs gathered across five continents and dating from the 1850s onward, the collection began with a single image of two men in a tender embrace discovered in a Texas antique store.

This exhibition features hundreds of photographs from the collection, including an original 19th-century photograph taken in Sydney, alongside a documentary that traces the story behind this extraordinary archive. While many images remain anonymous, details such as dress, gesture, and photographic style offer glimpses into hidden histories of love and connection.

Together, these works reveal acts of quiet courage, moments where to be seen together was itself a risk. Loving is both a recovery of the past and a testament to enduring queer presence, intimacy, and resilience.