arts

Rising Indigenous artist Corban Clause Williams debuts at Melbourne Art Fair 2026

Phoebe Blogg Published October 29, 2025 at 4.20am (AWST)

Corban Clause Williams in the studio. Image: Isaac Barber.

Emilia Galatis Projects, a Whadjuk Boodja/Perth-based gallery dedicated to fostering opportunities for Western Australian First Nations artists, has announced it will present the first Melbourne solo exhibition of Corban Clause Williams at Melbourne Art Fair 2026.

Across February 19-22, Williams will present 15 new works on canvas alongside design pieces that explore his Manyjilyjarra Country, culture, and contemporary practice.

Williams has quickly gained recognition for his commanding canvases that weave deep ancestral knowledge with modern creative expression.

This exhibition marks his official Melbourne debut and his first major solo presentation since 2024, spanning large-scale paintings and collaborations in fashion and textiles that bridge traditional storytelling, family heritage, and contemporary design.

Gallerist Emilia Galatis said Williams artworks combine contemporary painting with the lessons of his ancestors.

"As an emerging career artist straddling two worlds, Corban's artworks combine contemporary painting with the lessons of his ancestors," she said.

"They speak directly to the spirit of place and offer us timeless and nuanced depictions of Country, and its embodied jukurrpa (Dreaming narratives and knowledge)."

*Artist Corban Clause Williams. (Image: Martumili Artists)*

Williams is a Manyjilyjarra artist born in Newman in 1994 and based in Parnngurr Community, in the western desert region of the Pilbara, Western Australia. 2023 marked a breakthrough year for the artist, who was selected as a finalist for the Ramsay Art Prize (Art Gallery of South Australia), the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, MA Prize Winner at Sydney Contemporary and the John Stringer Prize.

From this, he was one of the top 10 artists in Australia to watch in Art Guide 2024 and featured in Elle magazine as a new collectable artist.

At the heart of Williams' practice lies Kaalpa (Canning Stock Route Well 23) and his grandfather's Country, where he first travelled in 2018. That visit, he says, opened his spirit and set his path as an artist.

"I went [to Kaalpa] for the first time [in 2018] on a Martumili KJ trip. I went hunting there, got a parnajarrpa. When I went there, I was pukurlpa (happy). It made you open up your spirit; it feels like home. Doing it on the canvas, feel like I'm standing there back at home," said Williams.

"Since then, I tried to learn from the old people. I went out on many trips on Country painting... then I went to my grandfather's Country and learned from my Nana - she was like a teacher."

Kaalpa is a permanent water source northeast of Kumpupirtuy (Lake Disappointment), a place of deep cultural and historical significance.

Its landscape holds the jukurrpa (Dreaming stories) of mosquito and fly beings who shaped the land, and it stands as a site of early contact between settlers and Martu people along the Canning Stock Route.

*Corban Clause Williams and Emilia Galatis at Sydney Contemporary 2023. (Image: supplied)*

*Kaalpa 2025 by Corban Clause Williams available at MAF. (Image: supplied*)

Alongside his fine art practice, Williams is collaborating with curator Emilia Galatis through her design initiative Flash Minky, launching the new Bumba x Flash Minky collection at Melbourne Art Fair 2026.

The project features limited-edition blankets, silk shirts, and floor-based rug sculptures, all developed in collaboration with social studio artisans in India.

Speaking about the collaboration, Williams said "Wherever people don't know about painting - that's where I want my work to go."

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