Sign o' the Times | 31 October - 13 December 2025

The lyrics of 'Sign o’ the Times', the title track from Prince’s 1987 album of the same name, address numerous socio-political concerns including the HIV/AIDS crisis, gang violence, drug use and poverty, among others, many of which disproportionately affected Black communities. Prince laments the state of America—and the world—suggesting that a deeper, spiritual struggle lies at the root of social issues: “…some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies”.

This exhibition similarly addresses the personal and the political, focusing on some of the ways artists use text, typography and the spoken word as tools of resistance, protest, cultural critique and as signs of existential tussle. Sign o’ the Times highlights how language—written, spoken, abstracted, fragmented—might function as a means not only of communication, but also of defiance.

There are banners, protest signs, noticeboards, signposts and more banners in Sign o’ the Times. Disruptive and transformative, both Kait James and Kate Just use language to challenge dominant narratives and articulate marginalised experiences; their works serve as a site of resistance—politically, socially, and culturally. As do those of both Emily Floyd and Tamsen Hopkinson et al., who reframe and repurpose text to critique systems of control; illustrating the power of language to resist dominant power structures. Tony Garifalakis and Lisa Radford incorporate text and imagery to create disruptive modes of expression—using specific words that have become increasingly weaponised in our political and social realms.

On the other hand, works by Nell, Badra Aji, Tiyan Baker and Ellen Koshland variously embrace the poetic and generative potential of language, where abstraction, fragmentation, and multilingualism become strategies for expressing identity, memory, and emotion. Michelle Neal’s aluminium signs assert a moment of absurdity.

Writing about the first Trump presidency, American essayist Andrea Scrima notes: “Slowly, steadily, we watched the erosion of language morph into a state of cacophony in which objective fact became replaced with alternative narratives among which, it was implied, one could freely choose.”[1] She discusses the misogyny, the smug logic of white supremacy, the vulgarisation of language that was popularised during this time, and which has been doubled down within public life since. In the intervening time, we’ve been witness to loss of meaning as words are used to signify their polar opposite; as arguments are flipped upside down and appropriated by politically opposing points of view.

It is within this context that artists harness the aesthetic and rhetorical power of words to expose injustice, confront censorship and provoke dialogue. Text is not merely a formal element, but a means of engaging with politics, identity and memory. Whether through poetic subversion, linguistic play or the visual violence of redacted or silenced speech, the artworks in Sign o’ the Times might remind us that language is never neutral—it can disturb and disrupt, conceal and reveal, wound and heal.

“Sign o’ the times mess with your mind/Hurry before it’s too late/Let’s fall in love, get married, have a baby/We’ll call him Nate if it’s a boy/Time.”

Emily Floyd courtesy of Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
Kait James courtesy of Neon Parc, Melbourne
Kate Just courtesy of Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide
Nell courtesy of STATION, Melbourne & Sydney

________

[1] Andrea Scrima, “On the Weaponization of Language in a Traumatized Nation”, Literary Hub, 2021, https://lithub.com/on-the-weaponization-of-language-in-a-traumatized-nation/