Oculi: Terra Australis Incognita, featuring work by photography collective Oculi, is a collection of photographs about Australia.

Gallery director Shaune Lakin said the exhibition showed locals how photography could help them understand contemporary Australian life.

"The photographs are amazing because they're really focusing in on parts of Australian life that are difficult for us to think about," he said.

"The fact that over the past few years we've seen so many epic natural disasters is a subject that's really thoroughly covered in the exhibition."

"It obviously raises lots of really scary questions around our relationship with the environment that we need to think about seriously."

All the members of Oculi are young documentary photographers who aim to produce an image of the world as it exists.

"It's as close to a truthful image as you can get," Lakin said. "It's not a picture that's been affected by or influenced by the photographer's own perception of the world. It's meant to be a straight, reliable depiction or representation of what was in front of the camera."

Lakin said the photographs in the exhibition were accessible to patrons.

"They're images that immediately make sense that have strong stories. The stories are evident in the pictures. They're pictures that are, from the start, designed to engage people in some kind of meaningful dialogue."

The show has already proved popular with regular visitors of the gallery.

"The feedback that they're giving me is that they're really enjoying the opportunity to look at photographs of this country," Lakin said.

"People are finding the photographs quite provocative in a good, positive way."