Kings Cross’ Injecting Centre (MSIC) Celebrates 25 Years With Client Art Exhibition

From 16 to 19 October, Uniting’s Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Kings Cross will celebrate 25 years with its 2026 Art from the Heart of the Cross exhibition, this year’s theme being “Beyond Stigma – Still Here, 25 Years On”.

The free exhibition, to be held at Paddington Town Hall, will showcase 133 original artworks created by 63 MSIC clients, inviting the public to witness the voices, creativity, and humanity of drug users, some of Sydney’s most marginalised people.

“This exhibition isn’t about drug use,” said MSIC Medical Director Dr Marianne Jauncey. “It’s about creativity, courage and humanity, and helps bridge the gap between the wider community and people with extraordinary stories to tell.”

MSIC Exhibition Launch & Auction

While the exhibition is open to the public from 16 October, Art from the Heart of the Cross will be officially launched the following day at 2pm. The launch will include the announcement of the winners of the exhibition’s seven award categories, as well as speaking appearances from Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, local MP Alex Greenwich, and with TV personality Gretel Killeen. 

“The MSIC art exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to help combat society’s habit of labelling and discarding others without considering their story,” said Killeen, a resident of the clinic’s local area. 

The exhibition artworks will be available for purchase via an online silent auction until 28 October, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the artists. Hundreds of people from across greater Sydney are expected to participate.

About MSIC

The exhibition marks both the art program’s 16th anniversary and 25 years of MSIC, a life-saving harm reduction facility — not to mention the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere — that offers individuals not only a safe, stigma-free, and medically supervised place to inject, but also dignity, community, and holistic support.

Since its inception in 2001, MSIC has supervised over 1.36 million injections and managed 12,338 overdoses with no fatalities. For many individuals, the facility is a lifeline, among them, MSIC client Megan Moses.

“I had returned to using drugs, but at the same time I knew I didn’t want to return to the using lifestyle and all that goes with it,” Moses recalled in her thank you letter to MSIC’s staff. “This land between two lives can be very lonely, and I found myself visiting the centre not just to have a shot, but because while I was there that empty hollow feeling in my chest was eased.

“You got to see what I considered the worst parts of me. You knew I used drugs. You saw me injecting, which is usually such a secretive and shameful activity. You saw me when I was stoned, and you saw me when I was in withdrawals, and yet, through all that, you were unfailingly kind and non-judgemental.”

Moses, whose artworks will appear as number #74 and #75 in this year’s Art from the Heart of the Cross showcase, credits the yearly exhibition with her decision to continue painting.