For The Dismissal: Words That Made History, the Museum of Australian Democracy required a suite of large-scale collage works to support a major exhibition examining one of the most significant moments in Australia’s political history. The challenge was to visually interpret the Dismissal in a way that felt emotionally resonant and historically grounded, while maintaining a neutral perspective. The collages needed to engage audiences with varying levels of familiarity — from those who lived through the event to those encountering it for the first time — and function across exhibition, digital, and public-facing contexts.

To realise the exhibition, the Museum of Australian Democracy approached Sydney Collage Society artist Kubi Vasak to develop a suite of collage works. Collage was chosen as a way to explore history as a layered and collective experience rather than a single narrative. The strategy focused on atmosphere, place, and public response, treating archival imagery as material to be recomposed rather than illustrated literally. Vasak’s bold shapes and angled cuts align with the underlying tension of the events of 1975, lending the work a sense of movement and urgency without overt dramatisation. To extend the work into motion, Jay Drury of Super Trip Production was brought on to animate the collages, bringing the compositions to life within the exhibition space.

The visual language is built through hand-cut, layered compositions that bring together key figures — including Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser and John Kerr — with crowds, architecture, and press imagery. Working physically with the material allowed the textures, edges, and imperfections of the source imagery to come alive, before being assembled and adapted digitally for projection. Care was taken to avoid combative framing or political bias, instead emphasising the weight and complexity of the moment. Women are visibly present throughout the collages, and Old Parliament House is foregrounded as the site where history unfolded. The resulting body of work is cohesive and cinematic, emotionally charged yet reflective rather than declarative.

The collages were developed as a flexible system of assets for projection and digital use. These include a hero collage, a public-focused work centred on the people, and six individual “Key Player” collages representing Whitlam, Fraser, Kerr, Parliament House, the press, and the public. Installed as large-scale projections within King’s Hall at Old Parliament House, the works run continuously throughout the exhibition, with subtle animation enhancing their presence. The assets also extend to the exhibition website, social media, and promotional materials, creating a unified visual experience across physical and digital spaces.

The project transforms archival material into an immersive visual environment that supports reflection, conversation, and understanding. By presenting the Dismissal through collage, the works invite viewers to engage with history as something layered, contested, and shared. Integrated seamlessly into the exhibition and its public-facing platforms, the collages contribute to a cohesive and contemporary interpretation of a defining moment in Australia’s democratic story.