Exploring the life of history in the present, this exhibition examined the enduring influence of things past. In an age shaped by the proliferation of media and instant access to vast archives of information and images, the very substance of history weighs upon the present like never before. Drawn from the Monash University Collection, The Weight of History was as much about the vagaries of our individual and collective memory and imagination as it was about the authority and influence of canonical histories. The featured artists referenced historical moments ranging from the obscure and almost forgotten to the iconic and momentous, grappling with the weight of the past.

As this exhibition showed, artists are often self-conscious historical agents—explorers, miners, chroniclers, agitators and visionaries—with the production of artworks also becoming artefacts in the rich reservoir of history.

Text adapted from Melissa Keys, Curator

Exhibition Catalogue:
The Weight of History

^{Image: Julia Ciccarone, Grounded 2005, oil on linen, 137.5 x 168 cm. Private Collection, Melbourne}