Otomys, a leading contemporary gallery in the heart of Melbourne, celebrates its 15th anniversary with Still Point, a milestone exhibition now open at the historic Villa Alba Museum in Kew.

Excuses are hardly needed to prompt a visit to Villa Alba. Any time the 130-year-old Kew mansion opens its doors to the public is an opportunity to marvel at its intricately hand-painted walls and ceilings, completed in the 1880s by one of Melbourne’s leading decorating firms, Paterson Brothers.

The space has received a quiet infusion of contemporary life courtesy of local gallery Otomys and its stable of artists from Australia and abroad. On view until 23 November, the exhibition Still Point brings together new works from 23 emerging and established artists working in print, sculpture, painting and textiles, who were invited to respond directly to the spaces within Villa Alba.

Still Point exhibition on display at Villa Alba Museum, November 2025.

Arriving at Still Point

The exhibition’s co-curator and Otomys co-director Megan Dicks, describes Still Point as “a call to slow looking, a quiet encounter, a space for resonance, not reaction”. 

“In a world saturated by cultural clamour, Still Point offers an alternative, a moment of quiet engagement set within the layered architecture of Villa Alba,” Dicks says.

Otomys co-directors Hannah Abbott and Megan Dicks.

According to fellow curator and director Hannah Abbott, Still Point offered exhibiting artists the chance to create new work within a new context.

“This immersive encounter between artist and place fosters work that could only emerge from the dialogue between contemporary practice and Villa Alba’s richly evocative setting,” Abbott says.  

The artists

The exhibition also introduces the latest artists to join the Otomys stable – Melbourne-based abstract artist Caroline Collom, Madisyn Zabel, a Canberra-based artist predominantly working in sculptural glass, and British painter and sculptor Chica Seal.

Other Still Point artists on the Otomys roster include Colin Pennock, who came to painting and drawing from unlikely beginnings as a police constable in Northern Ireland, sketching while on duty during the height of the Troubles. His uniquely original style was born from a desire to be immersed in nature and to find harmony after a turbulent past.

Artist Colin Pennock’s style was born from a desire to find harmony after a turbulent past.

Artist Sophia Szilagyi also exhibits her deeply contemplative printmaking as part of Still Point. Her unerring composite images make use of a variety of sources that are layered and overlapped, resembling a patchwork of real and imagined spaces.

Helen Redmond uses Villa Alba Museum to examine the psychological and sensory dimensions of space, drawing on her background in architecture and design to explore how light, form and spatial relationships shape human perception – the ‘psycho geography’ of space.  

Artist Helen Redmond uses Villa Alba Museum to examine the ‘psycho geography’ of space.

The full list of artists exhibiting in Still Point includes:

Anico Mostert 

Anna van der Ploeg 

Basil Papoutsidis 

Caroline Collom 

Caroline Cornelius 

Chica Seal 

Colin Pennock 

Dapeng Liu 

Emily Kirby 

Erin Chaplin 

Frances van Hasselt 

Greg Wood 

Greg Penn 

Helen Redmond 

Hermentaire 

Joel Sorensen 

Kathryn Dolby 

Katy Papineau 

Madisyn Zabel 

Marie Bernard 

Piet Raemdonck 

Sophia Szilagyi 

Zoe Amor 

Basil Papoutsidis’ sculpture ‘Citrine Orbit’ exhibited in the Villa Alba gardens at Still Point.

Visit Still Point

Alongside the exhibition, a series of special events and talks will take place throughout Still Point’s short run, providing audiences with the opportunity to engage more deeply with the artists and their practices.

Still Point is showing until Sunday 23 November at Villa Alba Museum, 44 Walmer Street, Kew 3181. Head to the Otomys website for opening hours and artist talks.

Photography by Sharyn Cairns.

Related: Read about the enduring appeal of another historic Melbourne residence, Robin Boyd’s Walsh Street House.