Artist on Artist: Joel Adler & Harry Nankin
Across generations, and from camera-less photography to large-scale sculpture, unpack the changing landscape of Australian environmental art. Join artists Joel Adler, recipient of the 2026 Eva and Marc Besen Contemporary Artist Commission, and Harry Nankin as they explore the joys and challenges of their work. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Climate Network, discover how these creatives tackle themes of change and degradation, memory and place, and how their Jewish identities influence their approach to their art, ethics and environmental activism.
About the artists:
Joel Adler is an artist and industrial designer known for large-scale interactive and kinetic sculptures. His works, often monumental in size, are designed to engage directly with their surroundings and with viewers, creating experiences that shift with light, movement and environment. Adler’s breakthrough work Viewfinder debuted at Sculpture by the Sea Bondi in 2019, a cliff-edge periscope reflecting the waves crashing below. It received the People’s Choice, Kids’ Choice and the Clitheroe Fellowship. In 2022, his giant mirrored sculpture Lens won the Kids’ Choice Prize at Sculpture by the Sea Bondi. Alongside his public art practice, Adler is head of design at Tsu Lange Yor, the Melbourne-based homewares and fragrance brand founded by Troye Sivan.
Harry Nankin is an artist and writer, previously exhibited at the Jewish Museum of Australia in 2024. Employing procedures that are part land-art, part print-making, part ritual and part photography, he confronts the human and ecological ravages of the Anthropocene through his work. He is the author of two award-winning books and his photographs and art have been in 24 solo shows and over 70 curated exhibitions across three continents, and have been acquired by institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria. Harry has lectured on photography and art in tertiary institutions for over 25 years and was awarded a PhD by RMIT University in 2015.
Image: Joel Adler, photograph courtesy of the artist.
Cost
JMA Members: free, booking essential