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Australian Library of Art

Australian Library of Art

Under the surface, on display 3 October 2026 to 25 April 2027.

Water is everywhere. It surrounds us, sustains life, and reshapes landscapes. Delve into the Australian Library of Art’s collections of illustrated books, artists’ books and fine press publications, where water flows through stories, images and the making of books themselves.

Some are books in the traditional sense; others challenge our ideas of what a book can be. Discover the many ways water has been imagined, interpreted and transformed in our collections, or book a free curator’s tour to hear the stories behind the display.

Free showcase

Open daily, 10 am – 5 pm
Australian Library of Art, Level 4

Plan your visit

Collection highlights

Venice ghetto tunnel artist's book by artist Wim de Vos

Peer through the tunnel for a 3-dimensional view of Italy's floating city and its historic Jewish ghetto.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville, illustrated by Mead Schaeffer

Few novels imagined the sea like Moby-Dick — see the 1923 first full-colour edition that sparked its revival.

Boat spirit tunnel artists' book by Kyoko Imazu

Beware the funayūrei – Japanese sea ghosts said to haunt the waters and lure sailors to their doom.

Love me sailor by Robert S. Close

A lone woman’s journey with a crew of sailors in a 1945 novel so raunchy its author was jailed for obscenity.

The sea-king's daughter, The flower's heaven & Night-wind by Amy Mark

The sea-king’s daughter

Two worlds meet in this enchanting poetic tale of a sea-king’s daughter and a girl from the land.

Chorale Bleaching and the mermaid’s tears artists' book by Anne-Maree Hunter

Chorale bleaching and the mermaid’s tears

A piano roll becomes an elegy for a sea changed by coral bleaching and rising tides.

Aquabatics by Victoria Cooper

Aquatic fungi take centre stage in this playful underwater meeting of science and art.

The river city: eyewitness document, 2011, Helen Malone.

A river of photographs captures the mud, debris and devastation left by Brisbane’s 2011 flood.

Nauru, 2007, Sarah Bowen.

Nauru, Port Augusta and Maribyrnong

Unfolding into paper boats, these artists’ books explore the fragile journeys of people seeking safety.

Charuk, P. E. (n.d.). No diving. P.E. Charuk].

Inspired by a child’s pop-up book, Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, and one surfer’s connection to water.

Join a free curator's tour

Dive deeper into Under the surface and discover the stories behind the books, artists and ideas in the display.

Woman looking at old illustrated book behind a glass cabinet.

Give to the Queensland Library Foundation

Help preserve the collections that hold Queensland’s stories — so they can be cared for, shared and discovered by generations to come.

A group of people are studying historical collections on a table