Developed in partnership with Campbelltown Arts Centre, Without Borders considered the place of ‘outsider art’ and situated the work of Australian and New Zealand artists in an international, trans-historical context.

Without Borders included key works by seminal practitioners such as Alfred Wallis, Howard Finster and Morton Bartlett, who were presented alongside lesser known international, Australian and New Zealand artists, including Slim Barrie, Rolfe Hattaway and the artists associated with Arts Project in Melbourne, among others.

Without Borders focused on the artists’ ability to create rich idiosyncratic visual worlds based on popular culture, mythology and lived experience; a primacy and urgent vitality in the construction and rendering of their work; an emphasis on materiality and process; and the ability to transform humble materials and objects through artistic insight and creativity. The exhibition included works in diverse media, spanning painting, sculpture, photography, books, film and animation.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition was an extensive catalogue with commissioned essays considering wider issues around outsider art, including the influence of outsider art on mainstream cultural production, and the history of outsider art in Australia and New Zealand.

^{Image: Without Borders, installation view, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2008. Photo: Christian Capurro}