Community invited to reflect on life, loss, longing and love in new Maitland Regional Art Gallery exhibition

From 17 May to 29 June 2025, Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG) will present Notes on life, loss, longing and love; a community-led exhibition that invites people to share reflections on life’s most profound and universal experiences.

The exhibition has been developed in response to the National Gallery of Australia’s loan of Ron Mueck’s iconic sculpture Pregnant woman, displayed at MRAG until 28 September 2025. 

Using custom stickers as a canvas, Notes on life, loss, longing and love invites community members and visitors to leave behind their own stories and memories. These small but powerful notes will build a shared tapestry of emotion, transforming the gallery into a space of human connection and collective reflection.

Gallery Deputy Director Courtney Novak says the exhibition is about giving people the chance to connect through personal expression. 

“This exhibition gives everyone a chance to be part of something meaningful. Whether you’ve experienced great joy, grief or longing, Notes on life, loss, longing and love creates a space for those emotions to be seen and shared through something as simple as a note. 

“It allows the community to step into the role of both storyteller and artist and serves as a reminder of our shared humanity.”

To complement the exhibition, MRAG will host an open mic poetry night on Saturday 31 May, presented by Amber Wilkes, founder of the Pocketbook Poet Society. Local poets and community members are invited to write and perform original works inspired by Pregnant woman or the broader exhibition themes.

Later in the exhibition period, on Wednesday 25 June, MRAG will host an in-conversation panel, ‘Motherhood’, which will explore the emotional and creative impact of Ron Mueck’s monumental work. The discussion will feature local voices and moderated by Dr Ria Leonard.

The panel will create space for personal reflections on the many forms of motherhood – pregnancy, parenting, the grief of losing a child, the longing for a child and the complexities of choosing not to have children. The conversation will be thoughtfully curated to explore the fragile beauty of longing, the profound weight of loss and the enduring strength of love.

To find out more about the exhibition, visit mait.city/NotesOnLifeLossLongingAndLove

For updates on the poetry night, panel discussion and other events, head to mait.city/MRAGcalendar