11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago: Roots and Currents is a multi-artist project focused on contemporary practices from the island of Mindanao and the nearby Sulu Archipelago. This region, located in the southernmost part of the Philippines, has a rich and fascinating culture, yet its artists are often marginalised by regional isolation, political instability and conflict, inaccessibility and perceptions of their indigenous status and Islamic culture. This project for the Asia Pacific Triennial brings together artwork by three broad groups from the region’s ‘tri-culture’: the Moro, or Bangsamoro, indigenous people of Islamic belief; the Lumad, a collective term for non- Muslim indigenous peoples; and the ‘settler-root’ people whose families migrated to Mindanao from elsewhere in the Philippines. With the purpose of highlighting the depth, diversity and complexity of artistic practice in Mindanao, this project — for the first time at this scale in a contemporary-art context — places works by artists from each group in conversation with one another to expand dialogues and recontextualise understandings of the region’s art and artists. 1 Art and activism are intertwined in the practices of many artists included. A deep consciousness of injustice and the abuse of power is apparent in the work of Adjani Arumpac, Kiri Dalena, Cian Dayrit and Julie Lluch, whose works directly comment on issues of social justice, solidarity and land rights specific to the region. 2 Mindanao has a volatile sociopolitical context, stemming from vast waves of migration after 1900 which saw the population leap from approximately 600 000 to more than 26 million people in the space of 100 years. As a result, indigenous Moro and Lumad peoples were marginalised and displaced, ‘leading to armed conflict with the national government over sovereignty, land and political control’. 3 Currently, wealthy mining corporations, plantations and the forestry industry pose a threat to ancestral lands and enable labour and human rights abuses that are reinforced by police and military intimidation. In her 2023 series of marble sculptures, Julie Lluch comments on the Philippine archipelago’s long history of artist activists and confrontations between individuals and the state. Fragmented marble busts show detailed painted scenes that are heartfelt tributes to individuals and friends, some of whom lost their lives in the course of seeking justice and impunity for the victims of violence. Kiri Dalena and Adjani Arumpac were among the founders of RESBAK (Respond and Break the Silence Against the Killings) in 2016, established in response to extrajudicial killings and the imposition of martial law in Mindanao. Dalena’s Mag-uuma (Farmer) – Lamentation by Melfe Ebalang from Valencia, Bukidnon 2014 was filmed in Northern Mindanao and features a young farmer from a family of activists singing a haunting ballad of poverty and injustice. Arumpac refers to her work Count 2021 as a ‘regenerative documentary’ that comments broadly on government corruption and misinformation. 4 Cian Dayrit, born outside the region, is a committed activist whose artist book illustrates hand-drawn ‘counter-maps’ that emerged from workshops he conducted with Mindanao farmers, plantation workers and indigenous people. CO-CURATOR: ABRAHAMAMBO GARCIA JR LOCAL ADVISORS: AL-NEZZARALI +EMI ENGLIS MINDANAOANDTHE SULUARCHIPELAGO: ROOTSANDCURRENTS (clockwise) Salima Saway Agra-an / Talaandig people / The Philippines b.1988 / Bungkatol Ha Bulawan (Golden jar) (from the ‘Cultural fragility’ series) 2024 / Ochre on canvas / 60.9 × 45.7cm / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Bequest of Noela Clare Deutscher, in memory of her parents, A Evans Deutscher and Clare Deutscher, through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / Image courtesy: The artist; Inside a T’boli longhouse in Lake Sebu, a dream-weaver meticulously weaves a tnalak / Photograph: Ferdinand Decena; Kiri Dalena / The Philippines b.1975 / Mag-uuma (Farmer) – Lamentation by Melfe Ebalang from Valencia, Bukidnon (still) 2014 / Single-channel digital video: black and white, sound, 2:06 minutes / Courtesy: The artist Rameer Tawasil / Tausug people / The Philippines 1969– 2023 / Taguri (The Royal Kites of Sulu) 2022–23 / Acrylic on plyboard / 95 x 113cm / Courtesy: Rohana Tawasil ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 148 — 149