‘Twist and loop’ describes both a technique used by women in Papua New Guinea to create knotted fabrics and the movements in choreographed dance sequences performed during sing sing (ceremony and dance). Twist and Loop is also the title of a performance event created for the exhibition ‘No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1966–2016’.…
Michael Parekowhai is one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists. Primarily sculptural, his works often play with scale and space, using humour to comment on the intersections between national narratives, colonial histories and popular culture. Parekowhai is known for bringing together an array of references, sometimes in a single object, with in-jokes and snippets of…
The spectre of large mining trucks and overturned earth continues to loom over Bougainville as the elected government of the politically autonomous region looks towards a referendum on Independence, promised as part of the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement. The mine has been closed since 1989, and is currently protected by a Mining Act handing control…
Continue reading » “‘Blood generation’ portraits show a deep connection to land”
This intriguing series of photographs by Yuki Kihara responds to the images of Samoa taken by Alfred Burton, who visited the Pacific in the 1880s, and looks to redress stereotypes of the Pacific perpetuated in colonial photography. In the late nineteenth century, French artist Paul Gauguin borrowed stylistic traits from Italian Renaissance fresco painting to…
Continue reading » “Photographs redress stereotypes of the Pacific”
Edwin Roseno’s ‘Green hypermarket’ series is a poignant reminder of economic and environmental tensions that are increasingly relevant today in countries of the Asia Pacific region. Yogyakarta-based photographer Roseno is an active member of the young generation of Indonesian artists that were highlighted in APT7. He is the manager of MES56, a prominent Yogyakarta photographic…
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 interests. When Bougainville artist Taloi Havini talks about this history, she speaks passionately of the violent turning of earth to which they belonged, the earth that sustained her people for…
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.