Billy Bain (b. 1992, Manly, Australia) is a Dharug artist whose practice examines Indigenous identity, material storytelling and the reimagining of cultural narratives within contemporary Australia. Working across ceramic sculpture, painting, printmaking and installation, Bain draws on lineage, family histories and his lifelong engagement with surfing to explore relationships to place, community and belonging. His narrative-driven, materially rich works reflect the lived experiences of urban Dharug identity and contribute to the development of a new Sydney-grounded Aboriginal creative language shaped by intergenerational knowledge and metropolitan life.
Bain’s practice spans expanded approaches to sculpture, painting and craft, with a strong emphasis on material experimentation and collaborative process. Working closely with family and community, Bain primarily collaborates with his mother Kathy. Their reciprocal exchange of intergenerational knowledge informs both the making process and their evolving understanding of Dharug identity. He incorporates ceramics, timber, pigment and found elements to embed relational knowledge and shared labour into his works. Across these forms, Bain explores themes of sovereignty, resistance, autobiography and the everyday realities of Aboriginal presence within contemporary urban environments.
Bain has exhibited widely across Australia, with major presentations at the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Australian Museum, Ngununggula, Maitland Regional Art Gallery and Penrith Regional Gallery. His work has appeared in national exhibitions including Ever Present and Of This Earth at the National Gallery of Australia, and he is a multiple-time Wynne, Sulman and Archibald Prize finalist. Bain’s work is held in significant public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank, Western Sydney University, Macquarie Group and Manly Art Gallery & Museum.
In 2025, Bain was appointed to the National Gallery of Australia’s First Nations Advisory Group. His work also extends into media and commercial collaborations; he created the key artwork for Apple’s NAIDOC Week 2025 campaign and hosted the ABC Compass special Changing Tides (2023), with further feature appearances on ABC TV’s The Art Of… series.
His achievements include Artist of the Year at the FBi SMAC Awards (2023), the Macquarie Emerging Artist Prize (2022) and finalist recognition in the Indigenous Ceramic Awards at Shepparton Art Museum (2022). Bain’s curatorial projects, including Cruel Summer at Artbank Sydney and You’re Welcome at Verge Gallery, reflect his engagement with representation, access and the politics of place.
Alongside his studio practice, Bain has held teaching roles as a Lecturer in Fine Arts at UNSW Art & Design. He has delivered community-based workshops and projects across regional and metropolitan contexts, including engagements with the Hermannsburg Potters and Ngununggula. Bain is represented by Ames Yavuz, Sydney.