WA to host world-first Heath Ledger exhibition

The Western Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, in conjunction with Heath Ledger’s family, will present an exceptional exhibition celebrating the life and work of the Perth-born actor, to open in 2017. The exhibition which ranges from his Perth school days to final movie costumes will be held at the WA Art Gallery.

Announcing the much-anticipated exhibition, Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said it would showcase the extraordinary talent of Ledger as an actor, his aspirations as a director and provide a window into his early life growing up in Perth. “Heath Ledger carved an incredible place in the history of cinema with his prodigious talent and dedication to his art,” Mr Day said. “He was much more than a charismatic movie star – Heath Ledger was a passionate, deeply committed film-maker who partnered with some of the world’s great directors, actors and crews to achieve unforgettable performances.”

Heath Ledger’s penultimate role as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) saw him receive international public and peer acclaim with an Academy Award, a British Academy of Film and Television Award, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award – all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The Academy Award will feature in the exhibition, as will the most exceptional item from Heath Ledger’s collection of personal effects – a diary he kept when creating his seminal role as The Joker.  Other mementos from Ledger’s personal archive will also be on display for the first time, allowing audiences to reconnect and rediscover a screen legend, and celebrate a local hero.

This unique exhibition is a significant component of the WA Museum’s partnership program during the redevelopment of its Perth site, and forms part of a new series of contemporary culture exhibitions at the Art Gallery of WA, called Culture Juice.

The Heath Ledger exhibition will be free to the public at the art gallery from October 2017 to January 2018.

For more information, visit http://www.museum.wa.gov.au and http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au.