This Year’s Theme

The theme ‘Ritual and Revelry‘ invites artists to celebrate the duality of the human experience and bring together these two contrasting forces that coexist in everyday life. From the ordered and the wild, the everyday rhythms and the liberating moments, artists that live and/or work on the Western Downs can explore this human experience in their medium of choice.

In 2026, the exhibition offers a total prize pool of $3800, with four Category Prizes, Young Artist Merit Award, and People’s Choice Award. The exhibition will feature on Western Downs Arts as a Gallery and 3D virtual exhibition, and on show from 5 September to 28 October at Gallery 107 Dalby.

Ritual & Revelry

Life moves in rhythms: solemn and ecstatic, ordered and wild. Bringing together two contrasting forces, Ritual and Revelry invites artists to explore through their medium of choice artworks that respond to our deepest instincts: to gather, to celebrate, to connect and to seek meaning in the human experience. 

Ritual binds us to time and tradition. Across cultures and generations, rituals have anchored communities, marking life’s milestones and offering solace in times of uncertainty. It is the quiet gesture, the sacred mark, the regular rhythm that holds things together. Whether it is spiritual, communal or personal, rituals embody continuity, structure, and the sacred, shaping identities and collective memory. 

In contrast, revelry offers moments of exuberance, joy, liberty and transformation. It can present with an eruption of colour and sound, a total dissolution of boundaries, a surrender to freedom and play. It is laughter spilling into the night, bodies moving in unison, the ecstatic moment where individuality dissolves into collective joy.

As an artist consider and celebrate how Ritual and Revelry coexist in everyday life, how they offer spaces for healing, belonging, and self-expression, and how they continue to shape the duality of the human experience in contemporary society.