La Trobe University > La Trobe Art Institute > Exhibitions > In our time

In our time

Four decades of art from China and beyond – the Geoff Raby Collection

NAS Galleries, 19 Jan to 30 Mar 2024

42 artists
Curator: Bala Starr. Coordinating curator: Katrina Cashman, NAS Galleries

Bendigo Art Gallery, 20 Aug 2022 to 19 Feb 2023

More than 40 artists  
Curator: Bala Starr. Coordinating curator: Lauren Ellis, Bendigo Art Gallery

We are proud to partner with the National Art School to present In our time at NAS Galleries, Sydney, as part of Sydney Festival 2024. The exhibition includes a selection of artworks from La Trobe's Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art, amassed by the Australian economist and diplomat Dr Geoff Raby AO over a 35-year period beginning in the mid-1980s. The collection is a vibrant trove of artworks by more than 70 artists working in China and in Australia, as members of the Chinese diaspora. Comprising 174 objects, the Geoff Raby Collection was donated to La Trobe University in 2019.

Through artworks infused with humour and irony, the exhibition explores diverse themes, from sex and sensuality, politics and power, to the construction of identity. Through artworks imbued variously with humour, fantasy and sarcasm, the selected artworks address diverse themes ranging from urban life, Chinese philosophy and cultural difference to social justice, human rights and nationhood. Offering multiple entry points, the exhibition reveals stylistic and thematic developments in contemporary art in the context of changing political ideologies, social conditions and cultural activities in China and Australia. The represented artists work in media including painting, photography, drawing, ceramics, sculpture and textiles.

Geoff Raby is a committed art collector whose acquisitions reflect both his sociability and his role as a diplomatic mediator. He belongs to a group of collectors in Asia whose friendships and global networks changed the course of regional art histories. By enlarging the reach of contemporary artists’ practices beyond independent studios and private galleries, these individuals often fast-tracked emerging artists’ careers.

In our time explores diverse styles and artistic technologies. The exhibition mirrors developments in contemporary art practice in the context of changing political ideologies, social conditions and cultural activities in China and Australia. The collected works record a dynamic period of Chinese history when artists were responding to the economic and cultural opening-up of the country while navigating its reforms. The exhibition takes on a heightened significance at a time when the relationships between China and the west have placed a premium on soft power, cooperation and cross-cultural understanding.

Learn more about the artists and artworks, including five case studies, in the NAS Galleries education kit on the NAS Galleries exhibition webpage. The kit is designed for students in the senior years of high school (NSW Preliminary and HSC or the IB syllabuses).

Read about key works in the Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art through commissioned texts by young scholars and writers Shanti Shea An, Soo-Min Shim, Genevieve Trail and Bianca Winataputri.

Read art critic John McDonald's Sydney Morning Herald column (17 February 2024) discussing the exhibition on his website.

Image: Rose Wong, Cut into, 2016 (foreground), fibreglass, wood, resin; Bendigo Art Gallery. Photo: Leon Schoots

Image gallery

  • Guan Wei, 'Water view no. 15', 2011, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Guan Wei. Courtesy the artist, ARC ONE Gallery and Martin Browne Fine Art. Photo: Jia De
    Guan Wei, 'Water view no. 15', 2011, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Guan Wei. Courtesy the artist, ARC ONE Gallery and Martin Browne Fine Art. Photo: Jia De
  • Guo Jian, ‘The cast and the crew’, 2009, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Guo Jian. Courtesy the artist and ARC ONE Gallery. Photo: Jia De
    Guo Jian, ‘The cast and the crew’, 2009, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Guo Jian. Courtesy the artist and ARC ONE Gallery. Photo: Jia De
  • Xiao Lu, ‘Dialogue’, 2004, photographic print on aluminium. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Xiao Lu. Photo: Jia De
    Xiao Lu, ‘Dialogue’, 2004, photographic print on aluminium. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Xiao Lu. Photo: Jia De
  • Xu Zhongmin, ‘Box no. 3’, 2017, mixed media, electrical components. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Xu Zhongmin. Photo: Jia De
    Xu Zhongmin, ‘Box no. 3’, 2017, mixed media, electrical components. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Xu Zhongmin. Photo: Jia De
  • Li Dapeng, ‘Painter’, 2007, oil on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019 © Li Dapeng. Photo: Jia De
    Li Dapeng, ‘Painter’, 2007, oil on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019 © Li Dapeng. Photo: Jia De
  • Aniwar Mamat, ‘Nursing a pile of old memories and exhausted feelings: how you confront white, blue, yellow kashagar wool’, 2014, dyed and undyed lamb's wool (felt). La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Aniwar Mamat. Photo: Jia De
    Aniwar Mamat, ‘Nursing a pile of old memories and exhausted feelings: how you confront white, blue, yellow kashagar wool’, 2014, dyed and undyed lamb's wool (felt). La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Aniwar Mamat. Photo: Jia De
  • Ah Xian, ‘“Stop” from the series “Sense of security”’, 1985, oil on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Ah Xian. Photo: Jia De
    Ah Xian, ‘“Stop” from the series “Sense of security”’, 1985, oil on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Ah Xian. Photo: Jia De
  • Jian Jun Xi, ‘Kiss earth’, 2014, bronze. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Jian Jun Xi. Photo: Jia De
    Jian Jun Xi, ‘Kiss earth’, 2014, bronze. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Jian Jun Xi. Photo: Jia De
  • Li Jin, ‘Sex is nothing, nothingness is sex’, 2006, ink and colour on xuan paper. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Li Jin. Photo: Jia De
    Li Jin, ‘Sex is nothing, nothingness is sex’, 2006, ink and colour on xuan paper. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Li Jin. Photo: Jia De
  • Rose Wong, ‘Cut into’, 2017, fibreglass, wood, resin. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Rose Wong. Photo: Jia De
    Rose Wong, ‘Cut into’, 2017, fibreglass, wood, resin. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Donated by Dr Geoff Raby AO through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019. © Rose Wong. Photo: Jia De