Created by the only male Ömie barkcloth painter, this detailed visual creation story, recently acquired by the Gallery, marks a significant departure for the Ömie people of Papua New Guinea. In 2009, 63-year-old law man Rex Warrimou began the process of recounting the Papua New Guinean Ömie people’s creation story to young Australian curator Brennan…
Continue reading » “Highlight: Rex Warrimou (Sabiö) ‘Our Creation (Ömie)’”
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,…
Continue reading » “Highlight: Julia Mage’au Gray ‘Best foot forward’”
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…
Continue reading » “Highlight: Taloi Havini and Stuart Miller ‘Blood Generation’”
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…
Continue reading » “Vanuatu film screenings at GOMA to support Further Arts”
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…
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…
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.