About the exhibition
Revealing Dress: Fashion as portraiture is a new exhibition that celebrates fashion as a visual language with the power to tell stories in ways words cannot.
Through the works of contemporary artists and designers, it explores the ways art and fashion harness clothing to tell stories using the shared language of drape, colour, silhouette and gesture. The exhibition features newly commissioned installations, significant loans, and runway looks direct from Australian Fashion Week.
While its themes are wide-ranging, Revealing Dress always returns to the body. Fashion is a relational art: it’s about garments animated by bodies, threads of culture and time woven together, and the act of seeing and being seen.
This is an exhibition for our current moment, a moment where we have never been more exposed. We are surveilled through social media and societal expectations. But fashion harnesses this visibility and allows the body to be a site of resistance and reinvention. It invites audiences to consider how we are seen, and what we choose to reveal about ourselves through the garments that adorns our bodies.
New commissions by Benjamin Akuila, Lily Golightly, Megan Hanson, Patrick McDavitt, and Jacquie Meng.
Image Credit: Megan Hanson, 'Synthesis (Marcus),' 2025. Commission by Liverpool Powerhouse. Photo by Chantel Bann Photography.
Image Credit: Jordan Gogos, Installation of garments from Iordanes Spyridon Gogos label 2021-2025, Photo by Chantel Bann Photography.
Image Credit: Katie-Louise & Lilian Nicol-Ford, installation of garments from Parrhesia collection 2025 from Nicol & Ford label, Photo by Chantel Bann Photography
Kids & Families Gallery
This exhibition also marks the debut of Liverpool Powerhouse’s expanded Kids & Families Gallery, now occupying the east and west sides of the Upper Turbine Gallery. A new commission by Lily Golightly 'To wear your heart on your sleeve' transforms the Upper Turbine Gallery into an immersive installation of sculptural cloaks that embody different emotions.
Designed for intergenerational interaction, the space invites children and adults to explore emotion through costume, sound, and play. These cloaks make feelings tangible and wearable, helping younger audiences understand and express their emotional worlds.] Learn more about the 'To wear your heart on your sleeve' exhibition.
Public Program Information
Fusion Sari Design Workshop Information
About the Workshop Series
Join artist Anjum Olmo for a lively, hands-on workshop series celebrating the beauty and cultural richness of the sari. Held every Sunday in February 2026, this community art-making series invites participants to explore sari histories and contribute to a new immersive installation using second-hand saris.
Each session includes:
- Sari styling and cultural insights
- Stencil design
- Woodblock printing demonstrations
- Optional embellishment activities (beads, embroidery)
All materials provided. No prior experience needed.
Come create, connect, and contribute to a new collaborative installation.
Tickets: $5 per session
Spaces are limited—book now to secure your spot!
All ages: Under 16s are to be accompanied by an adult
Book your spot in a Fusion Sari Design Workshop
Book a workshop on your preferred date by clicking the link next to that date below:
Sunday 15th Feb 2026: Fusion Sari Design Workshop | Liverpool Powerhouse
Sunday 22nd Feb 2026: Fusion Sari Design Workshop | Liverpool Powerhouse
Workshop artist information: Anjum Olmo
Anjum Olmo is an Australian-born artist of Indian Fijian and Pakistani heritage. She has a multidisciplinary practice which aims to bring people together, spark dialogue, and honour the richness of diverse cultural traditions. Recently, she has been exploring the sari as both a subject and a symbol; reacquainting herself with the garment not only for her own sense of identity, but also as something meaningful to share with her family. Her personal journey reflects the experiences of many within the diaspora who seek to reconnect with cultural practices that may have felt distant or obscured over time.
