Canberra art has hit the Hume Highway, with an exhibition of local artists now showing in Sydney.

Straight Outta Canberra at MAY SPACE features the work of a group of emerging and developing artists from the ACT in an exhibition that busts the biggest Arts myth of Canberra.

Curator Alexander Boynes said in the space of a decade the national capital has gone from being a place where residents said ‘Don’t tell anyone I’m from Canberra’ to now saying ‘Don’t tell anyone ABOUT Canberra’.

“Once upon a time the rite of passage for ANU School of Art graduates was to leave Canberra as soon as possible in order to ‘make it’,” Alexander said. “The irony is that internationally recognised artists who have called Canberra home in part made it because they stayed.

“Following in these footsteps, ‘Straight Outta Canberra’ presents a group of ambitious emerging artists who have realised the benefits of an easygoing city that is host to every national institution under the sun.”

The Canberra artists burning a trail up the Hume Highway include Tom Buckland, Tony Curran, Sanne Koelemij, Julian Laffan, Rosalind Lemoh, Cat Mueller, Dionisia Salas and Rebecca Selleck.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 24 March, and MAY SPACE can be found on George St at Waterloo.