11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Aoraki, during Paemanu hīkoi 2023 / Image courtesy: The artists / Photograph: Nathan Pōhio (opposite) Paemanu: Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts on hīkoi / Photograph: Conor Clarke Over the past decade, Paemanu has created a reputation for working collaboratively with arts institutions across Te Waipounamu to establish Ngāi Tahu understandings and protocols. In the process, Paemanu has effectively indigenised the ways in which these institutions work. As guests rather than hosts, on the lands of the Turrbal and Yuggera peoples for this exhibition, Paemanu expressed their wish to ‘share experiences as indigenous people on a journey to reclaim, rediscover, celebrate and elevate our cultural practices, our visual culture, languages and traditions’. 1 In preparation for the Triennial, six members of Paemanu travelled to Brisbane to initiate conversations with the Turrbal and Yuggera peoples. These experiences A shared language, culture and commitment to place connect the 40-plus members of the Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts collective, who have journeyed to Kuril Dhagan (Kurilpa Point), on the banks of the Maiwar (Brisbane River), to participate in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial. As members of the Ngāi Tahu tribe, each shares whakapapa (genealogical connection) with the mountains, plains and waterways of Te Waipounamu (South Island) of Aotearoa New Zealand. While many of Paemanu’s members have presented work offshore, the decision to collectively journey off ancestral whenua (land) for the presentation of their Paemanu: Awa Toi project, as part of the Triennial, marks a new direction for this collective of eminent Māori artists. ESTABLISHED2012, AOTEAROA NEWZEALAND LIVE+WORK ACROSSAOTEAROA PAEMANUNGĀI TAHU CONTEMPORARYVISUAL ARTS ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 164 — 165