Transitions: Undertones
7 November - 21 December 2025
Transitions: Undertones
Alicia Allen, Simsala Grimm, Daniel Meza, N.A. Simpson and Michael Smith
Alicia Allen, Blak stitches, white spaces (work-in-progress), 2025, Acrylic and rafia on mural rags, 148.5 x 184.5cm. Photograph: Amanda Galea.
Transitions: Undertones features new work by emerging visual artists Alicia Allen, Simsala Grimm, Daniel Meza and N.A. Simpson, with an accompanying essay by emerging arts writer Michael Smith.
The Transitions program pairs participants based in North Queensland with mentors who offer artistic guidance, industry insight and valuable support. Combined with group critiques, the program fosters meaningful connection and critically interrogates the mentees’ processes. This culminates in the creation of new work for a group exhibition, and this year’s inaugural essay response.
Fittingly subtitled ‘Undertones,’ the 2025 exhibition tells stories of plurality; the works invite audiences to look longer and allow ‘shadow’ themes to be revealed. Allen’s work, for instance, grapples with a loss of Cultural connection within her broader practice, while Simpson’s work explores the seemingly beautiful yet highly destructive African Tulip Tree. Meza’s manipulation of shadows in his photographic work is more visually layered, while Grimm’s politically potent explorations within ‘horror’ reveal poignantly topical, complicated realities that brim beneath the surface.
The text above has generously been provided by inaugural Transitions writing mentee Michael Smith. Read Michael's exhibition essay:
Exhibition essay
Exhibitions launch
6pm Friday 7 November 2025
Panel Discussion & Floortalk
10am Saturday 8 November 2025
The Transitions program is a partnership between Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts and Townsville City Galleries.
Also on display during this period
All Exhibitions
Open Hours
Tues - Fri: 9am-5pm
Sat - Sun: 9am-1pm
Gallery closed Mondays, public holidays and during exhibition install weeks.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts respectfully acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun and the surrounding groups of our region - Bindal, Gugu Badhun, Nywaigi, Warrgamay, Bandjin and Gudjal - as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather, share and celebrate local creative practice. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia. They have never ceded sovereignty and remain strong in their enduring connection to land and Culture.
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Acknowledgements
Umbrella is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Education, and the Visual Art, Craft and Design Framework, an initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments. | Umbrella is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. | Townsville City Council is a funding partner of Umbrella's program.
