‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10)’ continues Queensland Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s (QAGOMA) creative collaborations with the Asia Pacific region over three decades.
It brings a spectacular and diverse gathering of both traditional and contemporary artworks to the exhibition halls of Brisbane’s QAGOMA. ‘APT10’ traverses a range of artistic practices and creative mediums by more than 100 emerging and established artists and groups working in Australia, Asia and the Pacific regions.
As the world evolves in rapid motion all around us global histories are compelled to reveal untold truths and realities as communities and cultures cross paths and connect bringing stories passed down through generations and their more recent experiences out into the open. The exhibition carries themes of migration, navigation and exchange filtering through the artists works and across other creative presentations, and includes reflections on private and shared spaces, the home and architecture.
APT10 brings awareness to the importance of community, culture and belonging with particular concern for people who endure the personal, cultural and geographical implications of oppression and moving from their homelands. The exhibition tugs at the future and questions what it might look like and who will be involved in shaping it.
First Nations perspectives from across the Asia Pacific region come to power across a vibrant showcase of large-scale installations, immersive multimedia artworks, sculpture, textiles, paintings, photography and video.
The exhibition includes co-curated presentations of Indigenous art from Taiwan; cultural expressions from Northern Oceania; the retelling of pre-colonial exchange between the Yolngu peoples of northeast Arnhem Land in Australia and the Macassan people of South Sulawesi in Indonesia; as well as projects that engage with local communities from the Pacific islands; and contemporary ceremonial culture of the Uramat community in Papua New Guinea.
Forming part-two of his MURRILAND! series Waanyi artist Gordon Hookey presents two powerful history paintings, which are brightly illustrated with figurative and symbolic imagery, landscapes, and texts that speak in witty puns, alliteration and poetic verses. These layered narratives point not only to the wrongs of the past but also highlight current ‘political ideas circulating among Indigenous artists and activists of this region in their call for sovereignty.’ ‘These paintings address the weight of history and aim to educate the viewer, from a Murri perspective, on significant historical events that have been omitted from mainstream education,’ notes QAGOMA.
Sydney-based Fijian artist Salote Tawale has created a full-size raft constructed from bamboo and fitted out with resources deemed necessary for survival on a long journey over water; recycled tarps, solar panels, plastic buckets, an air mattress, the artist’s old iPad, bamboo cooking utensils and a DIY oil-can camp stove. This work, titled No Location draws inspiration from a 15-metre long bilibili (watercraft), named ‘HMS No Come Back’, that the artist encountered at the Fiji Museum in Suva on a trip ‘home’ as a child. And now, ‘30 years later, in the context of rapid climate change and restricted movements associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Tawale re-creates HMS No Come Back as a vessel designed to move between realities.’
Thai-born Melbourne-based ceramic artist Vipoo Srivilasa invites audiences to celebrate the attributes of love equality, spirituality, security, identity and creativity through his work Shrine of Life / Benjapakee Shrine. Srivilasa’s installation presents five joyful deities adorned from head to toe in porcelain Jasmine flowers, while the perfume of these delicate springtime blooms commonly used as phuang malai (garlands) in Thai temples, permeates the space. ‘My work will always be fun, happy and beautiful,’ Srivilasa shares.
The full list of ‘APT10’ participating artists and projects can be explored here.
‘APT10’ is further enriched with an exciting public program, which includes three films screening in the Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA: ‘The Magic Arts: Australian Animation from the 1970s to Now’; ‘Under the Radar: New Filmmaking across Asia and the Pacific’; and ‘Australian Next Wave’. APT10 Kids at the Childrens Art Centre, GOMA presents seven fun hands-on creative art projects for children and families, designed by exhibiting artists in ‘APT10’.
‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ at QAGOMA is running in-house until 25 April 2022.