Photos by Gibran Sjahana
(Care Together, Strong Together, 2025)
505x691cm
Collaboration with Taring Padi, Sharyn Egan, Ilona McGuire, Yabini Kickett, and Tyrown Waigana for the Art Gallery of Western Australia
More info
Commission for Perth Festival 2025
Photos by Aaron Claringbold, courtesy of Perth Festival
Executive Producer/Creative Lead, Ilona McGuire
Animator/Art Director, Tracey Kim
Sound Design/Composition, Envelope Audio
Commissioned by Law Society WA for the Old Courthouse Museum permanent exhibition
Full animation release in 2027
Design and Choreography, Ilona McGuire
Narration, Mitchell Walley
Script, Cass Lynch & Ilona McGuire
Sound Design/Composition, Envelope Audio
Commissioned by First Lights/Fremantle Biennale
Photo by Jarrad Russell
More info
Design and Choreography, Ilona McGuire
Narration and Vocals, Ilona McGuire
Script, Ilona & Walter McGuire
Sound Design/Composition, Envelope Audio
Commissioned by First Lights/Fremantle Biennale
Photos by Duncan Wright
More info
Directed by Luna Laure
Commissioned and Produced by First Lights/Fremantle Biennale
Directed by Luna Laure
Commissioned and Produced by First Lights/Fremantle Biennale
ilona@ilonamcguire.com.au
@ilonamcguire_
Ilona’s recent large scale works such as Karla Bidi (2025 & 2026), Moombaki (2021), Kooranup: Wadjemup (2023) and Kwejuk Nyitting (2025) have combined ancestral stories with new technologies such as animation, drone light experiences, and sound sculptures. Ilona's creative direction continues to open spaces that invite viewers to experience the innovation of ancient culture, whilst also reclaiming space and time for contemplation of shared histories.
Ilona continues to explore expressions through mixed-medium installations and ephemeral work as well as performance, social practice and collaboration.
Following her drone light show, Moombaki at the Fremantle Biennale’s 2021 festival CROSSING 21, Ilona was awarded the Schenberg Art Fellowship for Hatched: National Graduate Show (PICA) in her BA Fine Art graduating year. Going on to exhibit at Stala Contemporary, Fremantle Arts Centre, The National 4: Australian Art Now (2023), John Curtin Gallery, Cool Change Contemporary and creating a sequel light show for Moombaki, Kooranup: Wadjemup for the 2023 Fremantle Biennale festival SIGNALS 23. Ilona’s work now features in collections such as Janet Holmes à Court’s and the John Curtin Gallery.
Thompson Rivers University, Canada
Our Country Moves Exhibition
Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia
2026 - Current
Project Officer
Aboriginal Performance, Content
Dept. Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport
2024 - 2026
Creative Director
First Lights
2022 - Ongoing
Artistic Associate
Fremantle Biennale
2021 - 2024
Indelible Marks, Art Seasons Gallery, Singapore (2025)
Relic, Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, WA (2025)
Benev(i)olent Dreaming, Solo Exhibition, Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery (2024)
Residency Closing Exhibition, Cool Change Contemporary, WA (2024)
Melaut: Sea to See, Cross-cultural Collaborative Performance, Makassar ID (2024)
The National 4: Australian Art Now NSW (2023)
John Stringer Prize, John Curtin Gallery WA (2023)
You’re (Not) Wanjoo, Moores Building Fremantle WA (2023)
Nih! Yeyi Yorga Waangkiny, Fremantle Arts Centre WA (2022)
New Moves, Stala Contemporary, WA (2022)
Hatched:National Graduate Show, PICA, WA (2021)
Residencies
SPACED Circular Economies Residency, Carnamah, W.A. (2025)
Inaugural Breeze: Makassar - Perth Residency, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Makassar South Sulawesi, ID (2025)
Inaugural Goolugatup Heathcote Noongar Residency (2024)
Cool Change Contemporary Residency (2024)
Volunteer
Board Member, Tjudah Aboriginal Corporation (Current)
Board Member, Art On The Move (Current)
Board Member, Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Corporation (Current)
Board Member, Good Fund Freo (Current)
Board Member, Artist Advisory for Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (23/24)
Revealed Selection Panelist (2026)
First Lights Projects
Moortabiny (Kaarkatup, Kings Park, WA), 2026
Kinjarling (Albany ANZAC Peace Park, WA), 2026
Bunggaliyarra Munggu (Hearson Cove, Burrup Hub, WA), 2025
Winthu Wangga (Geraldton Foreshore, WA), 2024
Matariki (ARONUI Indigenous Art Festival, Rotorua, NZ), 2024
Kooranup - Wadjemup (Wadjemup, Rottnest Island, WA), 2023
Buungbaa-ma-ndhu (Ngununggula, Southern Highlands, NSW), 2023
Cowaramup (Gracetown, WA), 2023
Boodja Dwordak Wirn (Kepa Kurl, Esperance, WA), 2023
Moombaki (Walyalup/Derbarl Nara/Dyoondalup, WA), 2021
130x110cm
Ngunmi-Pudji (putting down language in Kungarakan), was a response to the 2025 exhibition Relic at Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, responding to a prompt reflection for people who have passed. This paper sculpture was made in collaboration with fellow Kungarakan artist and my Kurrung (mother), Meg McGuire, to reflect the body of work both literally and figuratively of her mother (my Wetji or Grandmother) after a life of hard work reviving the Kungarakan language. The sculpture is made of fragile paper strips taken from her notes, reflections, research, sketching and various documentation that told us more about her than she ever could given the little time she had to accumulate such things before she was overcome by dementia in later years. Her life’s work resulted in the published Kungarakan language book called Ngun Koongurukun (Speak Kungarakan). This resource is now a source of much lost information for our Mob in the south of Darwin, Northern Territory.
Photo by Aaron Claringbold
300x250cm
90x90cm
Acquired by Janet Holmes à Court collection
95x80cm
76x76cm
Acquired by The Orangery Gallery, WA
30x30cm
Acquired by private collector
90x75cm
My grandfather, Walter (pictured, 1947), was working on a farm in regional Western Australia in the 40’s and 50’s. He was expelled from school around age 11 because he had no shoes. This was a reality for Aboriginal people who were mostly living on government-sanctioned settlements called reserves. Many were only allowed to leave the reserve to work amongst many other oppressive laws. My grandfather worked the farm throughout his childhood until he was a young man. The farm owner offered rations and to sleep in the horse stables in the warmth of the hay as compensation for his work. The owner claimed to pay my grandfather by safekeeping his earnings in a “trust fund”. This fund was his own pocket and my grandfather never saw a cent from it. The wealth of Australia was built on the back of this common occurrence now known as the Stolen Wages, a historical exploitation of Aboriginal workers through intentional withholding and mismanagement of their earnings by government and private employers.
Acquired by the John Curtin Gallery, WA
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
Song of the Tides (2025)
Song of the Night Sky (2026)
Collaboration with Ilona McGuire, Ian Moopa Wilkes, Jacob Nash, and Chloe Oglvie for Perth Festival 2025 & 2026
Vocals by Ilona McGuire & Ian Moopa Wilkes with sound design by Envelope Audio
Photos by Marnie Richardson