The Dax Centre, Art gallery and mental health museum in Melbourne, Australia.
The Dax Centre is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne that displays work created by people who have experienced mental health conditions. The collection spans multiple artistic mediums and formats, documenting personal experiences and creative responses to mental health challenges.
The Cunningham Dax Collection began in the 1940s, assembled by Dr Eric Cunningham Dax while he worked in the UK; it also holds works made in Victorian psychiatric hospitals between the 1950s and 1980s. The Dax Centre opened in 2012 as part of SANE Australia to house and manage the collection. In 2009 the collection was added to the Victorian Heritage Register for its social and historical value to the state.
The collection is named after Eric Cunningham Dax, a psychiatrist who began it in the 1940s while working in the UK. It holds more than 16,000 works by people who have experienced mental health issues or psychological trauma, including pieces made in Victorian psychiatric hospitals between the 1950s and 1980s. The centre runs exhibitions and programs at no cost for people living with mental health issues.
The Dax Centre is part of SANE Australia and offers exhibition space and programs at no cost for people living with mental health issues. Its 2025 exhibition 'Mindscapes', portraits from the collection, was held in Queens Hall at the Parliament of Victoria.
The Cunningham Dax Collection holds over 16,000 works, one of only four collections of its scale and type in the world. It was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2009 for its social and historical value to Victoria. In 2025 the centre curated 'Mindscapes', portraits from the collection shown in Queens Hall at the Parliament of Victoria.
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