SAMMY HAWKER

Sammy Hawker is an Australian-based visual artist working predominantly on Ngunawal / Ngunnawal / Ngambri Country [Canberra Region, ACT] and Walbunja Country [Southern Tablelands / South Coast region, NSW]. 

Through practices of reciprocity (facilitated acts of co-creation) Sammy's works explore the potential of interspecies dialogue, giving voice to the presences of more-than human worlds. These works ​​reflect on ​how sentience and memory is inscribed within materials, sites and bodies.

Sammy’s multi-disciplinary practice embraces photography, printmaking, text, sculpture, sound and moving image. These works form a vast and ongoing archive, documenting sites and moments of exchange.

For enquires & commissions:

email: samantha.v.hawker@gmail.com
phone: +61 422 436 087

The artist acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters which on (and with) she creates her work. She extends this acknowledgement to all First Peoples of Australia and recognise their continual connection and care for Country. 5% (or more) of profits from Sammy’s artwork sales goes towards organisations supporting the vitality of Country. 

Read more about Sammy’s process here.

Since graduating with First Class Honours from Sydney College of the Arts in 2015, Sammy Hawker has been recognised both nationally & internationally for her experimental approach to photography. 

Over the past 5 years, Sammy has exhibited several critically acclaimed solo-shows. Works from these shows have been acquired by the Canberra Museum & Gallery, the ACT Legislative Assembly, the Canberra Hospital, Goulburn Regional Gallery, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre and sold widely to private national and international collections. Sammy’s work has been exhibited at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra Museum & Gallery, Canberra Contemporary Art Space and as part of the 2022 Canberra Art Biennial. 

Sammy 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 prizes including (more recently) the 2024 National Photography Prize (MAMA), 2024 Mosman Art Prize (in collaboration with Uncle Owen Carriage) and 2023 Bowness Prize (Museum of Australian Photography). In 2021 Sammy was a recipient of the Canberra Critics Circle Award for photography for her exhibition 'Acts of Co-Creation'.

In 2024 Sammy was artist-in-residence at both Woollahra Gallery and Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, exhibiting new solo shows at these galleries. In 2025 she was the annual funded artist-in-residence at Tweed Regional Gallery with her solo show Worlds Around Us exhibiting at the gallery from June - November 2025. She is also working towards a partnered residency with The Corridor Project NSW & Messums: Org UK travelling for a residency at Messums East (Lowestoft, UK) in September - October 2025 (funded by The Ian Potter Cultural Trust). Her first international solo-show will be exhibiting at Messums West (Wiltshire, UK) from October 2025 - January 2026. In mid-2026 she is travelling back to the UK to present the work from the residency at Messums East. At the end of 2026 she will presenting a survey show of her work created between 2020 - 2025 at Orange Regional Gallery. 

Education

• Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) completed at Sydney College of the Arts [2015]

Selected Prizes / Awards / Acquisitions

• Honeycomb #3 acquired by the Goulburn Regional Gallery [2025]

• Finalist | National Photography Prize | Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) [March 2024]

• Snow Gum #2 acquired by the Canberra Hospital [2024]

• Finalist (in collaboration w Uncle Owen Carriage) | Mosman Art Prize [2024]

• Winner - Caterpillars in Metamorphosis | Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize [2023]

• Finalist | Bowness Photography Prize | Museum of Australian Photography [2023]

• Winner - Mount Gulaga  | Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize & acquired by Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre [2022]

• Melt acquired by the ACT Legislative Assembly [2022]

• Ngungara #1 acquired by Canberra Museum & Gallery (CMAG) [2021]

• Recipient of a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Acts of Co-Creation [2021]

Solo Exhibitions

• Worlds Around Us | Tweed Regional Gallery [2025]

• Conversation with Bees | Goulburn Regional Gallery [2024-2025]

• [holding] space | Woollahra Gallery [2024] 

• Salt | The Mixing Room Gallery [2023]

• Melt | PhotoAccess [ 2021]

• Acts of Co-Creation | Mixing Room Gallery [2021]

• Dieback | PhotoAccess [2019]

Residencies

• Artist in Residence | Tweed Regional Art Gallery [2025] 

• Artist in Residence | Goulburn Regional Art Gallery [2024] 

• Artist in Residence | Woollahra Gallery [2023/2024]

• Artist in Residence | the CORRIDOR project [2022-2025]

• Project Alchemy | funded by Rebus Theatre [2022-2023]

• Artist in Residence | PhotoAccess [2021]

Public Works

• Red Dirt Hymns | Canberra International Music Festival - National Museum of Australia [2024]

• Ocean Resonance | Canberra Art Biennial [2022]

• Portrait | artsACT & Contour 556 ‘City Commissions’ [2022]

Group Shows

• Spirit of the Stable | Horseshoe Gallery [2025]

• With Nature | Canberra Contemporary Art Space [2024] 

• Canberra/Kamberri - Place & People - permanent exhibition | Canberra Museum & Gallery  [2023-5]

• ERTHWRX Festival | The CORRIDOR Project [2024]

• Hill End Analogue Festival | Hill End [2023]

• The Tale of Two Rivers - group show | Water Justice Hub, ANU | Broken Hill Arts Exchange [2023]

• Water Memory | Waterways Exhibition & Symposium | National Museum of Australia [2022]

• Bundian Way Arts Exchange | ANU School of Art & Design Gallery [2021]