The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Marcel Meltherorong (Mars Melto), and brings together dancers and musicians from Papua, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It is staged as an immersive multimedia installation, animated by contemporary dance and consciously addresses the issues involved in translating and contextualising performance from these regions for a broader audience. The installation They look at you 2015 is by Kanak artist Nicolas Molé in response to discussions with Meltherorong and 15 dancers from across the region who attended a workshop in Vanuatu in 2014. Visitors enter through the tangled roots of a banyan tree, into a cleared open space found in many of the region’s villages. The surrounds are animated with Molé’s immersive animated video projections of a forest inhabited by various beings. A large dwelling holds 11 videos, presenting the diversity of performance found throughout Melanesia. Participants include: SamRoem (West Papua l Australia); Julia Mage’au Gray (Papua NewGuinea l Australia); Lucy Efi (Papua NewGuinea); Michael Maetarau (Solomon Islands); Marcel Meltherorong, Anderson Laurin, Tio Massing, SteveWilliams, Andrew Tamata andManuella Kelep (Vanuatu); Nicolas Molé, Richard Digoué and SimaneWénéthem (New Caledonia); Katalina Fotofili and Soronakadavu Ratulevu Tora (Fiji). KALPA VRIKSHA: CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS AND VERNACULAR ART OF INDIA Several hundred indigenous and rural- based communities exist in India, varying greatly in ethnicity, culture and language. Developed in collaboration with Delhi- based curator, Minhazz Majumdar, this focus project explores some of the diverse artistic traditions that have survived and evolved from these regions. Kalpa vriksha is a Sanskrit term for a divine or wish- fulfilling tree. Mentioned in scriptures, it also describes living, sacred trees, traversing boundaries between the everyday and the mythical, ancient and contemporary. Communities such as the Warli, Gond, Chitrakar and Mithila are known for vibrant visual techniques with ancient histories, while Kalighat painting and clay sculpture from the Rajwar community have developed as part of daily vernacular life and belief. This project considers some of the most exciting and experimental artists working with the knowledge of these traditions today, capturing how traditional iconography and techniques have developed and how artists are using new styles to explore contemporary issues. GOND VENKAT RAMAN SINGH SHYAM Pardhan Gond people Born 1970, Sijhora, Madhya Pradesh, India Lives and works in Bhopal, India The Gonds are one of the largest indigenous peoples of India and are spread throughout several states of central India. Gond paintings were initially executed only on the walls of dwellings as an expression of religious beliefs, a record of daily life and local festivals, and to depict the surrounding environment and creatures. Gond artwork is characterised by the use of natural symbols such as trees and animals, with meanings rooted in animistic folktales and the culture of the Gond people. Venkat Raman Singh Shyam is the nephew of Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962–2001), one of the first indigenous Indian artists to gain international recognition when his work was included in the seminal 1989 exhibition ‘Magiciens de la Terre’. Venkat Shyam began painting at the age of 10, and draws from Gond myth, oral history and nature, as well as depicting scenes of modern city life and his own personal experience. KAAVAD SATYANARAYAN SUTHAR Born 1972, Bassi, Rajasthan, India Lives and works in Bassi The Kaavad is a painted, wooden shrine illustrating visual narratives on multiple hinged panels. It is created to resemble the opening thresholds of a Hindu temple on an intimate scale. The portable shrine unfolds and is accompanied by a storytelling performance. Many illustrations come from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, along with genealogies and local stories of gods and goddesses, heroes and patrons. The Kaavad makers are known as Suthars (meaning ‘carpenter’) and reside in Bassi village in Rajasthan — although now only a few families continue this practice. Satyanarayan Suthar is one of these artists, and creates unique shrines of varying scales and subject matter. Originally, the shrines were made specifically for a community of storytellers called Kaavadiya Bhats from the region of Marwar, who would carry them to each village. This storytelling aspect still exists, but the shrines are also made as objects in their own right, and now incorporate illustrated elements, such as cars, planes, computers and other features of everyday life. KALIGHAT KALAMPATUA Born 1962, Rampurhat, West Bengal, India Lives and works in Rampurhat Kalam Patua is a contemporary exponent of Kalighat painting. He was born into the Patua community of scroll painters and storytellers and subsequently taught himself the Kalighat style, which draws on conventions fromWest Bengal scroll paintings and Indian miniature painting. Kalighat painting developed in the vicinity of the Kali temple in Kolkata in the mid nineteenth century and departs from the linear, narrative style of the scrolls to focus on single scenes, with graphic, simplified forms and often satirical, contemporary content. Patua’s watercolours include elements of autobiography and myth, and reflect on social issues or current news events. This has included the changing nature of Indian society, dowry deaths, or violence against women, but also light, humorous works such as a series about working in the postal system, or depicting crowds that gather at art gallery openings. MITHILA PRADYUMNA KUMAR Born 1969, Muzzafarpur, Bihar, India Lives and works in Noida, India PUSHPA KUMARI Born 1969, Madhubani, Bihar, India Lives and works in Delhi, India Pushpa Kumari is a younger generation Mithila artist who has retained the Mithila paintings’ distinctive styles and conventions while addressing new subjects. Mithila or Madhubani painting is an ancient art form traditionally practised by women in the Mithila region of Bihar in northern India and Nepal, and was initially painted