Venezuelan‑born artist Nadia Hernández presents her latest body of work combining a textile collage, mural and atmospheric soundscape for the next instalment of the Contemporary Projects series at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The exhibition, titled Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times), draws connections between Venezuelan people across the globe by exploring an evolving archive of Venezuelan protest songs spanning many centuries and genres. Hernández continues to invite friends, family and collaborators to respond, forming a layered repository of memory and solidarity that reveals how resistance is encoded into language and music.
Hernández’s banners show lyrics from protest songs that together form a fragmented poem honouring her homeland. Infused with elements of Venezuelan musical traditions, the soundscape was made with creatives based in Caracas and from the global diaspora, while the mural honours the people and places integral to the project’s evolution, including the artist’s mother and grandparents.
Hernández’s works resound across geographic borders and speak to how we are all implicated in international flows of people, history and power. They present us with an uplifting chorus calling for a more humane collective future.
“Nadia Hernández beautifully brings together community, memory and hope. Her work reminds us of the ways that art not only documents our world, but how we may turn to art to understand lived experience, specific histories and imagine better futures. Nadia’s work heralds in its use of protest songs, but also brings intimacy, conversation, sadness and joy,” said Art Gallery of New South Wales director Maud Page.
Drawing on art, music, storytelling and family history, Hernández’s work reimagines how memories are held, shared and transformed across distance, particularly within the Venezuelan diaspora, with creativity revered as an essential conduit for cultural continuity and connection.
A multidisciplinary artist working across textiles, painting, sculpture, sound and installation, Hernández’s practice is grounded in collaboration and community engagement. Her work has been recognised locally and internationally, including her selection for the 2024 Fountainhead Residency in Miami, a major commission for the Oslo Freedom Forum, and presentations in the 2025 TarraWarra Biennial and Art Basel Hong Kong.
She has been shortlisted as a finalist in several awards including the New South Wales Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship Artspace in 2020, the Ramsey Art Prize in 2023 and Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes in 2023 and 2024.
This exhibition is part of the Art Gallery’s Contemporary Projects series, which highlights the work of artists from NSW and at times, wider Australia.
Nadia Hernández: Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times)
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, The Domain (Sydney)
Exhibition continues to 21 June 2026
Free entry
For more information, visit: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au for details.
Images: Nadia Hernández in her exhibition, Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, artworks © Nadia Hernández, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter | Installation view of the Nadia Hernández: Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times) exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, artworks © Nadia Hernández, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter