Exhibition and Residency: Tue 17 Mar - Sun 3 May
Launch: 5.30pm, Fri 10 Apr

Viewing for Rusty's: 3pm, Tues 14 Apr

UK based artist Akash Bhatt visited Cairns in 2025 on his travels through Australia, sketching as he went. It became clear to him very quickly how vital Rusty’s Markets is to the local community, offering an invaluable alternative to the main supermarkets. It also acts as a social hub, which is evident by seeing the frequent interaction between stall holders and their regular customers.

Akash returns to Cairns in March to spend more time at Rusty’s, speak to customers and stall holders, and visually record the running of the market and the people who use it. Creating a body of work that reflects not only the vitality of the market but also shows how crucial Rusty’s is for the future of the people of Cairns.

“Markets such as Rusty’s, and the Leicester Market of my hometown, and all over the world, often struggle in the face of increasing expansion of supermarket chains that wish to monopolise the fruit and veg sector.”

Image: Rusty’s Market Il

Artist Bio

Akash Bhatt was born in Leicester U.K. and studied at Loughborough College of Art, the University of Westminster and St Martin's School of Art.

Winner of several prestigious awards including the BP Travel Award which was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London, focusing on the political turmoil in Fiji.

In 2002 the Villiers David Award gave Bhatt the opportunity to travel to Cuba creating and exhibiting a body of work looking at the effects of the ongoing U.S. economic blockade on Cuba.

A member of the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of British Artists, Bhatt has exhibited widely in many group exhibitions including The BP Portrait Award, The Sunday Times Watercolour exhibition and the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize.

He says of his practice, 'My interest lies in people and their habitats.  I have often travelled extensively researching for new projects and also take inspiration from in and around where I live.'

Bhatt’s work and process are informed by his sketchbooks and notebooks filled with notes and drawings from observation.

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