Following MUMA’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025, 50 Years/50 Works: A MUMA Collection Index brings together 50 significant works from the Museum’s Collection and 50 newly commissioned responses from contributors spanning MUMA’s history and wider communities of knowledge and practice. Through personal, poetic and critical reflections, artists, curators, poets, academics, museum staff and members of the Monash community offer a multifaceted account of the Collection’s evolution and the many ways it has been encountered over time.
Structured as a handbook-style index, the publication reconsiders how art histories are written and how collections shape our understanding of contemporary Australian art. With a particular focus on acquisitions made since 2010, it re-examines how themes, movements and narratives have been used to categorise artistic practice, while tracing changing collecting priorities and cultural concerns.
Alongside these newly commissioned texts, the publication includes a comprehensive exhibition history and a complete index of artists represented in the Collection. Both a reflection on MUMA’s first 50 years and an enduring resource for future research, 50 Years/50 Works captures the evolving role of the university art museum as a site of experimentation, dialogue and cultural memory.
Artists:
Hoda Afshar, Micky Allan, Brook Andrew, Atong Atem, Archie Barry, Jean Barth, Gordon Bennett, Vivienne Binns, Daniel Boyd, Pat Brassington, Peta Clancy, Maree Clarke, Megan Cope, Juan Dávila, Destiny Deacon, Lesley Dumbrell, Emily Floyd, Teelah George, Simryn Gill, Marlene Gilson, Agatha Gothe-Snape, D Harding with Hayley Matthew, Robert Hunter, Raafat Ishak, Helen Johnson, Tim Johnson, Paul Knight, Maria Kozic, Gail Mabo, Nicholas Mangan, Brian Martin, Helen Maudsley, Hayley Millar Baker, Tracey Moffatt, Archie Moore, Kent Morris, Susan Norrie, Rosslynd Piggott, Pitcha Makin Fellas, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Renee So, Darren Sylvester, Kathy Temin, TextaQueen, James Tylor, Judy Watson, Fred Williams, Joseph Williams Jungarayi, Judith Wright and Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu.
Contributors:
Judy Annear, Andrew Atchison, Paola Balla, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Frances Barrett, Stephanie Berlangieri, Belinda Briggs, Daniel Browning, Rebecca Coates, Claire G Coleman, Charlotte Day, Max Delany, Mel Dodd, Coby Edgar, Julie Ewington, Adam Ford, Sophie Gerhard, Amrit Gill, Elyse Goldfinch, Amanda Haskard, Tristen Harwood, Tara Heffernan, Jennifer Higgie, Maya Hodge, Chelsea Hopper, Helen Hughes, Jessyca Hutchens, Helen Johnson, Bruce Johnson McLean, Liang Luscombe, Victoria Lynn, Brendan McCleary, Kyla McFarlane, Brigid Moriarty, Jessica Neath, Melanie Oliver, Francis E Parker, Ashley Perry, Hannah Presley, Tim Riley Walsh, Ragnar Thomas, Autumn Royal, Myles Russell-Cook, Charlie Sofo, Aziz Sohail, Lleah Smith, Hilary Thurlow, David H Thomas, Nikita Vanderbyl and Amelia Winata
