More than all the ocean between us

Christopher Ulutupu, Tehor-Lina Mareko, Melody Jazz Makavani, Get to Work, Emele Ugavule and Sione Monu

Curated by Talia Smith 

Opening 
Friday 17 May, 6pm

Exhibition Dates
18 May – 9 June  

 

Christopher Ulutupu, '3 songs', 2019, 21:45mins video loop, courtesy the artist. Cinematographer: Kevin Cartwright. Stills Photographer: Kasmira Krefft

Christopher Ulutupu, '3 songs', 2019, 21:45mins video loop, courtesy the artist. Cinematographer: Kevin Cartwright. Stills Photographer: Kasmira Krefft

Overview 

“It is a sharp ice-down-your-back cold, with deep maternal warmth. It is familiar yet foreign, safe yet relentlessly dangerous. It’s home. In that moment in the ocean, I realised that despite the false divides I experience on the land, the ocean knows no such barrier.”

– Lana Lopesi, False Divides

More than all the ocean between us is an ongoing research and curatorial project that investigates early career Pacific heritage artists who work with time based practices. In this first iteration six practitioners and five writers of Pacific Island heritage have been invited to discuss their practices in an attempt to map what is happening at an early career level and to piece together the developments of photographic and video practices from those that paved the way. As Pacific people we have claimed photography as a tool for sharing our stories, I believe we are now the authors of our own histories and this project aims to celebrate, highlight and critique what is being shared.

This is not a conclusion but rather a beginning.

  • Talia Smith, ‘More than all the ocean between us’, 2019, installation view, Ideas Platform, Artspace, Sydney. Photo: Artspace

  • Talia Smith, ‘More than all the ocean between us’, 2019, installation view, Ideas Platform, Artspace, Sydney. Photo: Artspace

  • Talia Smith, ‘More than all the ocean between us’, 2019, installation view, Ideas Platform, Artspace, Sydney. Photo: Artspace

  • Talia Smith, ‘More than all the ocean between us’, 2019, installation view, Ideas Platform, Artspace, Sydney. Photo: Artspace

  • Talia Smith, ‘More than all the ocean between us’, 2019, installation view, Ideas Platform, Artspace, Sydney. Photo: Artspace

More than all the ocean between us has been supported by Arc @ UNSW Ltd under their 2019 Art & Design Grants scheme. This project was made possible thanks to the supporters of the Boosted fundraising campaign.

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