photo credit: Aaron Chapman for Tweed Regional Gallery

Artist Bio: Sammy Hawker was born 1990 in Cootamundra, Australia (Wiradjuri Country). She is currently based in Canberra (Ngun(n)awal/Ngambri Country).

Since graduating with First Class Honours from Sydney College of the Arts in 2015, Sammy has exhibited several critically acclaimed solo-shows. Her works have been acquired by public institutions across Australia and is held in private collections around the world.

While working across multiple disciplines, Sammy is widely acknowledged for pushing the boundaries of photography as an artistic medium. She was winner of the 2022 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize and the winner of the 2023 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize. Over the years she has been a finalist in numerous significant photography awards including the 2026 National Photographic Portrait Prize (National Portrait Gallery), 2026 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award (HOTA), 2024 National Photography Prize (MAMA) and 2023 Bowness Prize (Museum of Australian Photography). Her exhibition Conversations with bees at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery was nominated for a 2025 Museums & Galleries of NSW IMAGinE Award and her 2021 exhibition Acts of Co-Creation was a recipient of the Canberra Critics Circle Award for photography.

In 2025 Sammy was the annual funded artist-in-residence at Tweed Regional Gallery and exhibited her solo show Worlds Around Us at the gallery between June-November. In September 2025 Sammy undertook a partnered residency between The Corridor Project (AUS) & Messums: Org (UK) (funded by The Ian Potter Cultural Trust and artsACT). Her first international solo-show Ghosts & Monsters exhibited at Messums West (UK) in late-2025.

In 2026 Sammy exhibited Sound-Forms: Whale Song at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery and The Pressure of Darkness - a survey show of work created created between 2020-2026 - at Orange Regional Gallery. The Pressure of Darkness will also exhibit at Canberra Museum and Gallery in 2028.

Artist CV:

Employment & Education
2026 Artist Educator at the National Gallery of Australia [current]
2015 Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) | Sydney College of the Arts

Solo Exhibitions
2028 The Pressure of Darkness | Canberra Museum & Gallery [upcoming]
2026 The Pressure of Darkness | Orange Regional Gallery
2026 Sound Forms [Whale-Song] | Hervey Bay Regional Gallery
2025 Ghosts & Monsters | Messums West (UK)
2025 Worlds Around Us | Tweed Regional Gallery
2024 Conversation with Bees | Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2024 [holding] space | Woollahra Gallery
2023 Salt | The Mixing Room Gallery
2021 Melt | PhotoAccess
2021 Acts of Co-Creation | The Mixing Room Gallery
2019 Dieback | PhotoAccess

Selected Awards & Acquisitions
2026 Mount Gulaga & Dark Crystals acquired by Orange Regional Gallery
2026 Finalist | Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award | HOTA
2026 Finalist | National Photographic Portrait Prize | National Portrait Gallery
2026 Finalist | Goulburn Art Award
2025 Honeycomb #3 acquired by the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery [2025]
2025 Conversations with bees nominated Museums & Galleries NSW IMAGinE Award
2024 Snow Gum #2 acquired by the Canberra Hospital
2024 Finalist | National Photography Prize | Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA)
2024 Finalist (in collaboration w Uncle Owen Carriage) | Mosman Art Prize
2023 Winner | Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize | PhotoAccess
2023 Finalist | Bowness Photography Prize | Museum of Australian Photography
2022 Melt acquired by the ACT Legislative Assembly
2022 Mount Gulaga acquired by Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre
2022 Winner | Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize | Muswellbrook Art Centre
2021 Ngungara #1 acquired by Canberra Museum & Gallery (CMAG)
2021 Acts of Co-Creation winnter of Canberra Critics Circle Award for photography

Artist Residencies
2025 Messums ORG x The Corridor Project | supported by Ian Potter Cultural Trust
2025 Tweed Regional Art Gallery | supported by artsACT
2025 the CORRIDOR project
2024 Goulburn Regional Art Gallery | supported by CAPO
2024 The Woollahra Gallery | supported by artsACT
2023 Project Alchemy funded by Rebus Theatre
2021 PhotoAccess Dark-Matter Residency

Public Works & Commissions
2024 64 Trees | Canberra International Music Festival | National Museum of Australia
2022 Water Memory | Waterways Symposium | National Museum of Australia
2022 Ocean Resonance | Canberra Art Biennial
2022 Portrait | artsACT & Contour 556 ‘City Commissions’
2019 Axidant | Secret Garden Festival
2018 Karmic Blooms | Secret Garden Festival

Selected Group Shows
2026 Speaking collections | Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2026 Moonlight Meanders – Lake Burley Griffin | Localjinni
2026 ARI BANAL(E) | Canberra Art Biennial
2026 Through Line (Works from the Collection) | Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
2026 friends of fold | fold projects
2026 Photo London | Messums London
2025 Inner Being | Megalo Print Studio
2025 As It Is Now | Messums Org, NYC
2025 Photo Sydney with PhotoAccess | Sydney Contemporary
2025 Abstract Photography | Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre
2025 Agnes Contemporary | August West End
2025 Spirit of the Stable | Horseshoe Gallery
2024 With Nature | Canberra Contemporary Art Space
2023 Canberra/Kamberri - Place & People | Canberra Museum & Gallery
2024 ERTHWRX Festival | The CORRIDOR Project
2023 Hill End Analogue Festival | Hill End
2023 The Tale of Two Rivers | Water Justice Hub, ANU | Broken Hill Arts Exchange
2021 Bundian Way Arts Exchange | ANU School of Art & Design Gallery
2020 20x20 | GOST

Other Qualifications
2024 Death Doula Certification (Zenith Virago)
2023 60hr Insight Yoga TT (Sarah Powers)
2021 50hr Yin Yoga TT (Sarah Owen)
2019 200hr Yoga TT (Mark Ansari)
2007 AMEB Grade 8 Piano

Committees
2023 Plumwood Inc. | secretary [current]

Workshops
2026 Dickson Wetlands & Murrumbidgee River
2025 Goulburn Wetlands
2024 Plumwood Mountain (w Sophia Dacy-Cole)
2024 Woollahra Gallery
2023 National Gallery Scholarship Program
2023 the CORRIDOR project

Press Archive
features & profiles
Channel 7 News | aug. 2026
Basta Magazine | aug. 2025
Art Guide | jul. 2025
ABC Arts | feb. 2024
Art Collector | jan. 2024
ABC Art Works | series 3. 2022
Wonderground Journal | issue 4. 2022
Paradiso Magazine | issue 19. 2021