Aus-PNG Network: Collaborating and building connections across the Pacific through art

Pacific art is a powerful vehicle for building and maintaining connections across communities in the region, particularly during Covid.

View this email in your browser Aus-PNG Network Podcast Collaborating and building connections across the Pacific through art Mihai Sora is joined by Ruth McDougall and Ruha Fifita to discuss the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) showing at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art from 4 December. They discuss how Pacific art is a powerful vehicle for building and maintaining connections across communities, the uniquely collaborative nature of Pacific art, and how to reframe art as less of an 'industry' and more as a meaning-making cultural activity that delivers new learning for artists and their audiences. APT10 includes 69 projects with new and recent work by emerging and established artists and collectives from across Asia and the Pacific, comprising more than 150 individuals from 30 countries, including Uramat Mugas (Uramat Story Songs), a collaborative project inspired by the ceremonial practices of the Uramat families who live in and around the township of Gaulim in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.   Uramat Mugas (Uramat Story Songs) is a collaborative project created with the Uramat families of Gaulim in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Photo courtesy of APT10 at QAGOMA.   Ruth first met the Uramat community during her travels in 2011 and has been working with artists from that community since 2016. "Their desire, their main passion, was to connect with an Australian audience," said Ruth. "And they won't be able to do that physically, but their work certainly will. And it's art that makes that link…People will know who they are."   Mihai Sora is the Project Director of the Australia-Papua New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute. Ruth McDougall is curator for Pacific art for APT10 and Ruha Fifita is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in the Kingdom of Tonga, who has exhibited throughout the Pacific and who has curated a number of projects for APT10. Read the full article here. You can listen to a podcast of the Aus-PNG Network's conversation with Ruth McDougall and Ruha Fifita on the Lowy Institute website. 2021 Aus-PNG Network event program sponsors Our mailing address is: PO Box H-159 Australia Square NSW 1215, Australia You're receiving this email as a subscriber to the Aus-PNG Network mailing list. Click here to unsubscribe from this list or email auspngnetwork@lowyinstitute.org