Highlight: Julia Mage’au Gray ‘Best foot forward’

Bold and sassy, this vibrant video work explores the intersection between urban and traditional lifestyles, as well as the artist’s Papuan and Australian heritage. Over a career spanning decades, Julia Mage’au Gray has creatively responded to her Pacific heritage and culture. Inspired by its performance traditions Gray revives and adapts customary forms, working across dance,…

Highlight: Taloi Havini and Stuart Miller ‘Blood Generation’

Three large-scale photographs from this photographic series were recently acquired for the Collection and will appear in APT8 in November this year. Here is the background to these sublime portraits. The photographic series ‘Blood Generation’ is born out of the people of Bougainville’s ongoing grief over the loss of their land as the result of mining…

Vanuatu film screenings at GOMA to support Further Arts

Emyo Tinyo Dance and Music Festival 2014 Join us for a series of screenings which engage with the Ni Vanuatu dancers, villages and people that the Gallery have been working with over the past 18 months. Funds raised via the screenings will be directed through Further Arts. Further Arts is a community-based organisation that seeks to…

Bilum – A cultural icon

The Sisters of Mercy — a not-for-profit, faith-based organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea — teaches textile-making skills to the disadvantaged, including prisoners in Bihute, in the Eastern Highlands Province. The Gallery recently acquired a group of six colourful bilums from Bihute, extending its Pacific textile holdings and engaging with this cultural tradition. The…

A Tale To Tell

The telling of stories is important in Papua New Guinea. It is the way that knowledge is passed on, a time to relax, and an important means of connecting with others. This story is about the Gallery’s latest project — a tale that began in July 2011 when Michael O’Sullivan and myself, and guest co-curator…

Major PNG Commission Heads APT7 Line-Up

A large-scale commission was announced today heading the line-up for the Gallery’s flagship exhibition, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT)’ which will celebrate its 20th anniversary when APT7 opens in December this year. The first project to be announced for APT7 includes major commissions by a group of Papua New Guinean (PNG) artists…