Nicholas Mahady
Pressure
7 February - 7 March 2026

Nicholas Mahady’s photographic practice examines the poetic qualities of functional objects and machines, often playing with obfuscation and partial visibility to divorce his subjects from their intended use. Mirroring the photographic process, Mahady selects objects with an ability to contain and capture, or a lens-like quality which reflects the camera back onto itself. By uncovering concealed systems—the inner workings of machines, instruments, and institutions—Mahady brings into view the abstract entities beyond them, revealing atmospheres, energies, emotions and desires.

The exhibition Pressure brings together Locks and Pressure Gauges, two photographic series engaged with symbolism, romance and trespass. Pressure Gauges captures the plant rooms of museums, documenting the routinely unobserved workings of these institutions. Each gauge is a component connected to larger mechanisms regulating the atmosphere of the institution, a concealed system of climate control. Likewise, Locks captures transparent lock mechanisms, used in training locksmiths and lock-pickers, and exposes their interior workings.

Nicholas Mahady is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist working with photography, sculpture and installation. He has held solo exhibitions at Strawberry and Hyacinth. He has participated in group exhibitions in Melbourne at Connors Connors, Cathedral Cabinet and Daine Singer, as well as at Minerva in Sydney and Photo Access in Canberra. He was the recipient of the Fini Prize at MADA NOW 2022 and was selected to the New Photographers Program for PHOTO24. Mahady holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from Monash University.

“Picking a lock and looking through a keyhole felt like an interesting trope for their connection to voyeurism, desire and privacy. For this show, I was interested in how directly the locks could address accessing something abstracted or hidden. The locks that I’ve documented are transparent; their internal mechanical systems, springs, pins, and chambers are all exposed. Locks are, of course, a symbol of love—love locks attached to bridges and fences—and lockpicking became a way of tampering with that symbol.”

— Nicholas Mahady

Read: Nicholas Mahady in conversation