Join internationally renowned artist, Maria Fernanda Cardoso in-conversation with MCA Associate Curator Manya Sellers, at the opening of Cardoso's exhibition Spiders of Paradise at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.

The exhibition presents new works from Cardoso’s Spiders of Paradise photographic series (2018–ongoing), alongside her acclaimed video work On the Origins of Art I-II (2016). Cardoso’s subject is the tiny Australian Maratus spider – measuring less than 5mm in size – and their unique, brightly-coloured abdomens, which form part of their elaborate mating rituals. Across a suite of large-scale photographs, the exquisite multi-coloured patterns of various species of Maratus are presented as individual portraits. 

Learn more about Maria Fernanda Cardoso's exhibition and practice, which celebrates the beauty of the natural world and reveals the sophisticated lives of creatures not usually witnessed.