It was only when I stepped out of the mesmeric bubble of the exhibition space, past the uniformed attendant and into the gift shop offering facsimiles of what I’d just seen, that I came to wonder, somewhat carelessly, what the time was. You may be familiar with the daze that comes after a concentrated stint in a blockbuster exhibition, after you’ve been led from painting to painting under the guidance of an invisible curator. A daze that is necessary to focus your mind on the here-and-now experience of the exhibition, which can be disorienting: time seems at once suspended and dynamic. While in the exhibition, I was prompted to consider ideas of time. I wondered, what time is it in Australia, according to the Royal Academy of Art?

In the autumn of 2013, at their home in Burlington House on Piccadilly in central London, the Royal Academy showed some 200 artworks from the Australian continent under the title Australia. Organised around the theme of landscape, when exhibited in Piccadilly Australia covered more than 6000 square metres in thirteen rooms. Works by 146 artists, dating from 1800 to the present were on display. As Prince Charles, patron of the exhibition (and the Campaign for Wool), noted: ‘the works provide a powerful visual narrative illustrating Australia’s developing sense of nationhood’.[1] Australia was curated in association with the National Gallery of Australia, and supported by Qantas, the Campaign for Wool, and the Woolmark Company.