The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 30 Projects (opposite) ACAPA Pasifika Community Engagement Project activation space, weaving activity, GOMA / Photograph: Katie Bennett With the great Pacific Ocean defining Queensland’s expansive shoreline borders, the state’s geographic orientation as well as its history and identity are intimately connected to the Oceania region. For nearly 30 years, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) has wielded this unique vantage point to platform art from the Pacific region. These exhibitions stimulate and shape transformative and educational experiences for APT audiences: they introduce new ways of being and thinking through otherwise inaccessible histories and articulations of possible futures. As the strength, scope and depth of APT’s engagement with the Pacific region broadens, so does the potential to enhance and deepen the exhibition’s impact through meaningful engagement with Queensland’s own distinct and steadily growing Pacific Islander Community. 1 The state of Queensland is home to the largest number and concentration of Pasifika peoples in Australia, 2 and a growing proportion have spent most, if not all, of their lives on local soil. The aspirations, behaviours and values of these communities continue to be shaped by the state’s unique social, physical and economic landscape. Furthermore, the Torres Strait and South Sea Islander communities represent Pasifika peoples with unique and deep connections to Queensland. Although APT has gained international renown for its thoughtful inclusion of culturally and socially significant Pacific art, many Pasifika locals are either unaware of the event or have never attended. For those who have been involved in recent efforts to strengthen this connection, the potential value is undeniable. As APT10 collaborator Osanna Fa’ata’ape comments: I am just really grateful to have the opportunity to be a point of connection between my community and the art, because it’s such a shame if our own community aren’t benefiting and reaping the rewards of these precious creations made by our people. 3 After years of working with artists and communities in the Pacific, curatorial staff are increasingly aware of the need to more deeply consider how we involve and nurture Pacific practices, artists and communities. To address this locally necessitates a collective commitment to enable institutions like QAGOMA to systematically learn from and build on efforts to understand and support south-east Queensland’s Pacific communities. In light of this, the Gallery has made a concerted effort to identify and create opportunities to more deeply embed active community engagement as an integral part of each APT. For APT10, these ongoing efforts have culminated in the ACAPA Pasifika Community Engagement Project (ACE). ACE was conceived as a pilot project that builds directly on a series of conversations and interactions that took place in 2018 with a dynamic and diverse group of Pasifika young people from three Brisbane-based Pasifika student associations: Queensland University of Technology Pasifika Association (QUTPA), Griffith Pasifika Association (GPA) and University of Queensland South Pacific Islander Association (UQSPIA). These groups were invited to interact with QAGOMA staff, attend key spaces and public programs related to APT9 and share their reflections on how the Gallery could create and refine spaces to more meaningfully engage Pasifika university students. Their generous contributions helped the Gallery to clarify and prioritise its objectives: to work more closely with Pasifika people and communities in the planning stages of our public programs and events; create more opportunities for artists to connect directly with local communities; strengthen the use of indigenous languages in the presentation and interpretation of artworks; and explore ways that Pacific exhibitions can contribute more decisively to social discourses on subjects such as mental health and environmental sustainability. The ACE project is just a stepping stone towards achieving these objectives. As such, ACE has been framed as a learning process designed to generate insights about a set of questions currently at the forefront of the project’s key stakeholders’ and participants’ minds: • What role and value can communities have in participating in an existing contemporary art learning space, with a focus on creating a culturally safe environment for intergenerational learning and exchange? • How do we utilise existing relationships with members of local Pacific communities — and build new relationships — in order to collaborate and work together to present public programs for general audiences and Pacific audiences? Project team: Jaelyn Biumaiwai (ACE Content Creator), Munanjali people, born 1999, Australia; Iree Chow (ACE Catalyst), born 1994, Australia; Jori Etuale (ACE Catalyst), born 1992, Australia; Osanna Fa’ata’ape (ACE Writer), born 1997, Australia; Timothy Harm (ACE Catalyst), born 1996, Australia; Daniel Ituku-Roberts (ACE Catalyst), Te-Aupōuri, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Toa Rangitira, born 1978, Australia; Moale James (ACE Catalyst and Writer), born 1998, Australia; Sarai Tafa (ACE Catalyst), born 1994, Australia; Joella Warkill (ACE Content Creator), Yidinji people, born 1993, Australia With: Brisbane Tongan Community (est. 2018), Te Kupeka A Tahu, My Dilly Bag (est. 2000), Three Little Birds (est. 2015), Members of the Brisbane Fijian Community, Mary Harm, Conscious Mic (est. 2012), Pasifika Women’s Alliance (est. 2014), Pasifika Young Peoples Wellbeing Network (est. 2019) ACE Pasifika Translators: Rauhina Scott-Fyfe (Māori), Taitusi Arhelger (Fijian), Lingikoni Vaka’uta (Tongan), Zachary Lum and U'i Lum (Hawaiian), Anis Pitalai (Uramat), Sana Balai (Tok Pisin), Joyita Stanley-Slade (Samoan), Emelihter Kihleng (Pohnpeian), Mori-m Mahoney Mori (Chuukese), Benida Asher (Kosraean), Barbara Mori Ned (Marshallese) ACAPA Pasifika Community Engagement Project