Brisbane surrealist Mona Ryder’s installation Dance me to the end of night began with the creation of long rubber creatures she made out of bike tyres.

“I just started to make them and then I made more and there ended up being 22 of those,” she said.

“It was very difficult to get that many tyres.”

The rest of the space given to Ryder feature an array of shoes with power plugs and a shrine like table drawer which holds a collection of small bottles and ribbons adorned with Mexican folk charms known as Maligros.

The table is next to a donation box with a plastic candle on top of it.

The box plays a tune and the candle “lights up” when you put a coin in.

Ryder was inspired by a residency in Rome in 2014 with the ideas of hope and prayer which she encountered.

Down the corridor Sydney artist Julia Davis has set up her video time lapse titled Consilience: as the world turns.

In a small dark room a seven minutes and 49 second piece plays, depicting a dark silhouetted figure making ethereal movements under a star swept sky over the salt body Lake Tyrrell in North West Victoria.

Davis was inspired to do the work after a residency in Western Australia which she said marked a “turning point” in her career.

“I was living in a little town called Mukinbudin, probably about four and a half hours out of Perth, in a small community of 250 people,” she said.

“I made a series of art works while I was out there.

“I had a car and just went out and found this salt lake … and did a number of works, one of which was casting my body in salt and documented over three months its erosion over time.

“The work originated from that idea, because one night I went out, on a starry moonless night and it looked truly ethereal, it was an extraordinary experience.”

After an exhaustive search via map and phone, Davis came across the Victorian lake where she would do her shoot over two nights.

“I called this girl at the local pub who was absolutely fantastic, I just wanted some local knowledge about the area,” she said.

“She must have had time that day because she got really excited about the idea ... and raced down to Lake Tyrell, which is probably a 15 minute drive, in her lunch hour and sent me photos that night from the site and I got really excited.”

Rounding out the new exhibitions is Albury artist Nat Ward with an extensive show called Translating Wetlands.

A series of trips to the wetland areas in the Riverina and near Albury were the reference for a year’s worth of oil paintings.

Ward she was enamoured by water and how light would reflect off its surface.

“I just sort of take photos of the interesting details I like,” Ward said.

“The patterns in the water, the lights reflecting the colours.”

“I just think its a beautiful environment in Albury … I tend to notice new things whenever I go down there.”

Ward said it was a huge privilege to be exhibited at MAMA.

“This is probably the biggest solo exhibition I've had and to have it here in this amazing new gallery we've got in Albury is brilliant.”

Ryder and Davis will be conducting a floor chat at MAMA from 6pm to 7pm on Thursday night.

Ward will hold her own on February 4 at 6pm.

The work of Davis and Ward will be shown at the gallery until February 28 while Ryder’s installation will finish on March 6.