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On a raised platform at the Museum of Contemporary Art, members of the artists collective Ivi are painting tiny shapes onto a massive bark cloth.
The three artists are only up to the first corner, and it's obvious the task of meticulous decoration will take many months to complete.
But Ruha and Minaira Fifita, and Sheida Varir-Zadeh are chatting and laughing as they work and don't seem to mind in the least - it's a collaboration, Ruha explains.
It begins with growing the trees, harvesting the bark and beating it, before preparing it into a cloth, a process she grew up with in Tonga.
"The act of painting is used to make sacred the work... everyone involved is ideally honed into this common purpose," the artist told AAP.
On the wall behind them hangs a finished patterned panel, an intensely detailed work in warm brown colours that also speaks to the sheer scale of the task ahead.
Ivi's work is part of The National 4: Australian Art Now, and a microcosm of the exhibition's collective approach, which extends across four Sydney art institutions for the first time.
The biennial survey of contemporary art is usually held at the Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks, and the MCA, but in 2023 extends into western Sydney with a show at Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Overall, it brings together 48 new projects involving more than 80 artists, as well as existing contemporary works, but the MCA's contribution to the show would not have been possible even a few years ago, according to curator Jane Devery.
"My sense is that the emphasis on community collaboration and belonging... is a direct consequence of our collective experience of the events of recent years," she told reporters on Thursday.
The National: Australian Art Now opens Friday.
AAP travelled with the assistance of the Art Gallery of NSW.
