The Banks Are Burning

Image: Gary Carsley, 'The Banks are Burning', 1986 (detail), oil on canvas, Artbank collection

Works from the Artbank collection

'The Banks are Burning' centres on Gary Carsley’s 1986 artwork of the same name, originally commissioned as a backdrop for New York’s influential club, The Limelight. Created during the uncertainty and fear of the AIDS crisis, Carsley’s work captures the energy and urgency that defined a generation of queer expression. Recontextualised within Artbank’s collection, 'The Banks are Burning' becomes both a tribute and a provocation, drawing a connection between the artwork’s title and the ‘bank’ of works in the Artbank collection, to the heat and pulse of the dance floor.

This exhibition explores the nightclub as a space of transformation, performance and community. It celebrates the cultural legacy of Australian LGBTQIA+ artists, and their allies, and the connection between art, identity and the spaces where we come together.

For more information visit: artbank.gov.au/exhibitions/banks-are-burning