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Joy brings the Immigration Museum to life with an emotive adventure where creativity, colour and storytelling join forces to take you on a transformative journey.
Seven newly commissioned installations by eight leading Victorian-based creatives offer a unique opportunity to experience the power and meaning of joy.
Big joyous moments and more reflective spaces capture all kinds of joy, from the carefree years of childhood to a celebration of belonging and togetherness.
Explore what joy means to others then share what sparks your own joy with our colourful 'Share Your Joy' wall.
Museums Victoria is grateful to its generous supporters for making Joy possible
Adult $15
Senior $10
Concession Free
Child Free
Member Free
Until Friday 29 August: 10am to 5pm
Discover the joy behind each installation and learn more about the creativity and concepts that inspired these works.
Venezuelan-born Australian artist Nadia Hernández commemorates ‘cotidianidad’ – meaning ‘everydayness’ – in bold cut-out vignettes, examining daily moments conducive of joy that revolve around food and music.
Queer artist Spencer Harrison ‘drags up’ the architecture of the Museum with a play of colour and light, creating a joyful runway to strut your stuff and celebrate all identities.
Globally renowned, ‘future positive’ fashion designer Nixi Killick invites us to spark our joy with her vibrant, interactive joy generator that fuses colour, technology and augmented reality.
Afghanistan-Australian visual artist and poet Elyas Alavi and Sher Ali explore resilience, strength and the joy of being connected in a large-scale mural and neon text, illustrating the story of the Simurgh, a Persian mythical bird.
Multi-faceted pop artist and designer Callum Preston explores joy through the nostalgia of a full-scale replica of a 1990s video store, 'a joy,’ he says, ‘I never thought I would miss until I realised it was gone.’
Wiradjuri artist and poet Jazz Money expresses joy as both a tender, domestic space and a radical act. Her work enfolds us in a soundscape of laughter and care, surrounded by a painted mural referencing the waterfall that once flowed with laughing waters on the Birrarung Marr.
Celebrated local artist Beci Orpin, whose work occupies a space between illustration, design and craft, creates an all-encompassing sensation of joy with her giant soft-toy rabbit called Bunny Dearest, inspired by joyful childhood memories.
Open daily 10am–5pm
400 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Adult $15
Senior $10
Concession Free
Child Free
Member Free
Some spaces in Joy have reflective flooring which may affect visitors with low vision.
View an accessible, digital version of all the exhibition text.
Please view our accessibility page for general information. Contact our team on 13 11 02 or email us at mvbookings@museum.vic.gov.au to discuss how we can support your visit.
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Museums Victoria acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung Bunurong peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations where we work, and First Peoples across Victoria and Australia.
First Peoples are advised that this site may contain voices, images, and names of people now passed and content of cultural significance.