Image:
HA-HA
Ned Kelly
aerosol on 300gsm hot press archival paper
110 x 75 cm
Fri 13 Mar – Sun 26 Apr 2026
Pop-Up Benalla Art Gallery
75 Bridge Street East
Street Art Bushranger presents a bold and timely exploration of Australian popular culture through the work of renowned street artist HA-HA. Drawing on imagery from mass media and the everyday visual noise of contemporary life, the exhibition examines the modern obsessions that define the 21st century — reality television, celebrity, sport, crime, wealth, and the pursuit of instant notoriety.
At the centre of HA-HA’s practice is a painstaking, analogue process. Using hand-cut, multi-layered stencils — sometimes comprising up to forty layers — the artist creates highly detailed, lifelike images sourced from newspapers, digital media, and original photography. Working without digital cutting tools, HA-HA’s technique reflects both technical mastery and a commitment to physical making in an increasingly digital world.
The exhibition is closely linked to Benalla through HA-HA’s iconic stencilled portrait of Ned Kelly. The artist draws a deliberate parallel between the outlaw legacy of Kelly and the criminalisation of street art, viewing both as acts of resistance and defiance against authority. This connection resonates strongly within the local landscape, where Kelly’s story continues to loom large.
Alongside portraits of figures connected to the Kelly narrative, Street Art Bushranger also showcases HA-HA’s experimentation with new technologies. Visitors will encounter works animated through augmented reality, as well as original musical scores generated through a mathematical translation of the number and duration of each cut made in the stencil-making process — extending the artwork beyond the visual into sound and motion.
About the artist:
HA-HA is a contemporary Australian artist whose work critically examines the forces shaping modern life, including the pervasive influence of mass media, the rise of artificial intelligence, the commodification of culture, and the shifting nature of labour in a digital age.
Emerging from a background in street art, HA-HA is a self-taught artist whose practice is grounded in close observation of popular culture. He sources imagery from the digital landscape and through original photography, translating these references into meticulously hand-cut stencil works. This analogue approach is frequently expanded through the integration of augmented reality, creating a layered dialogue between traditional craft and emerging technologies.
With a career spanning more than two decades, HA-HA has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, presenting over twenty solo exhibitions. He is represented by galleries across Australia.
His work is held in major public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the State Library of Victoria, the City of Melbourne, Artbank, and BHP Billiton, as well as private collections throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South East Asia.
Official Exhibition of the 2026 Benalla Street Art Festival
