The day before Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific opened at the V&A, British Council Australia brought together UK curators for an exclusive first viewing and curatorial dialogue.
Led by Sophia Sambono (Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, QAGOMA) and Tarun Nagesh (Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art, QAGOMA), the session centred Australian First Nations perspectives, offering a guided, contextualised engagement with the exhibition. The morning began with a private tour of the works, followed by a screening of artist Naomi Hobson speaking to her practice on Country.
Sophia offered insight into contemporary artistic practices and frameworks for engaging with First Nations artists and communities, including Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. Tarun brought to life more than 30 years of the Asia Pacific Triennial and its growing regional impact. The discussion that followed was warm and wide-ranging, with curators from across London's galleries and institutions engaging with the work and with each other.
The event was designed to facilitate curatorial reflection and exchange, forming part of British Council Australia's ongoing and evolving conversation to deepen connections between the UK cultural sector and First Nations artists and communities in Australia. We are focused on building sustained, informed engagement that is grounded in best practice protocols, connecting with UK curators who are interested in engaging with First Nations artists and contexts in Australia and are open to developing their practice accordingly.
Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific is a landmark collaboration between the V&A and QAGOMA, Brisbane. Foregrounding First Nations perspectives and diverse artistic approaches, the exhibition features rare works by over 40 pioneering creatives, drawing on more than three decades of the Asia Pacific Triennial to explore how histories, belief systems and social conditions are expressed by artists of the region today, and how cultural knowledge is carried and nurtured through communities and across generations.