In partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, London’s V&A has announced it will present Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific this May, a landmark exhibition bringing together the work of more than 40 artists from 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region.
The exhibition will draw on more than 30 years of QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, offering what the organisers describe as ‘an unparalleled view of the region’s dynamic creative landscape’.
More than 70 works spanning sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, weaving and body adornment – many of which have never been exhibited outside of the region – will foreground First Nations perspectives and reflect the interconnected, ever-changing cultures of the Asia Pacific today.
Home to 60% of the global population, Australia, Asia and the Pacific comprise one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse parts of the world.
The Asia Pacific Triennial was established in 1993 and remains the only major recurring series dedicated to the region’s contemporary makers. Rising Voices will draw on the Triennial’s legacy, arranged across an introduction and three thematic sections. Re-Visioning History will demonstrate how artists respond to political conditions, from histories of migration to domestic conflicts and social upheaval.
Enduring Knowledge will explore artistic heritage and ways of making with local materials, featuring works informed by long-standing traditions and ceremonial customs.
The exhibition will conclude with Evolving Faith, a section considering how spirituality and systems of faith are expressed in contemporary practices. Positioned at the exhibition’s entrance, Michael Parekōwhai’s life-sized fibreglass sculpture of a Māori security guard, Kapa Haka (Whero) (2003), offers a potent reflection on the stereotypes faced by Māori men even today.
Under his watchful gaze, the exhibition will unfold through works that reveal the ongoing significance of ancestral knowledge, histories and connections to place that continue to influence artists’ practices today.
Following an introduction that centres Indigenous knowledge and diverse artistic languages, Re-Visioning History will include Pala Pothupitiye’s Kalutara Fort (2020–21), a reimagined map of Sri Lanka’s historic military camp, initially built by Portuguese occupiers, later captured by Dutch settlers and ultimately surrendered to British colonial powers.
This section will also feature artists Brenda Fajardo, Elisabet Kauage, Mathias Kauage and John Siune, whose work There is still a war going on in Bougainville (1995) responds to Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville conflict (1988–98), the largest and most deadly conflict in Oceania since the end of the Second World War.
Photography will also play a prominent role in this section, with works by Naomi Hobson and Michael Cook capturing intimate portraits and stylised scenes of life, both real and imagined.
Enduring Knowledge will foreground practices rooted in ancestral memory and long-standing connections to place and community.
Materials drawn directly from the natural environment – including feathers, mother-of-pearl, bamboo and coconut husk fibre – will feature throughout in handbags, baskets, fans and body adornments, alongside examples of miniature painting and ceramics.
Highlights will include necklaces by Lola Greeno, crafted from iridescent maireener and abalone shells, and a selection of vibrant works on paper by Khadim Ali, Saira Wasim, Pushpa Kumari and Nusra Latif Qureshi, who challenges conventions of South Asian miniature painting by centring her female subjects.
A series of porcelain busts by Ah Xian will be displayed alongside, illustrated with delicately rendered landscapes in cobalt glaze – a porcelain painting technique perfected in Jingdezhen in central China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The exhibition’s final section, Evolving Faith, will focus on spirituality and religion in contemporary art across the region.
Exploring relationships between the sacred and the secular, artists in this section will demonstrate how belief systems intersect with systems of power and the everyday. Key works will include Nomin Bold’s 2012 painting Labyrinth game, which uses elements of Tibetan Buddhist thangka (scroll) painting to capture the complex urban landscape of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and Montien Boonma’s monumental sculpture Lotus sound (1992), a celebrated work inspired by the temple grounds of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai.
Daniel Slater, Director of Exhibitions at the V&A, said: ‘Rising Voices brings together an extraordinary group of artists whose works reveal stories that are at once deeply rooted in place and urgently resonant on a global stage.
‘These works have never been seen in the UK before, yet they speak to histories and perspectives that are essential to a fuller understanding of our shared contemporary world. From the enduring strength of ancestral knowledge and faith to powerful reflections on colonial legacies and conflict, the exhibition unfolds narratives that deserve far greater visibility here.
‘It is a privilege to present such varied and compelling practices at the V&A, and to offer UK audiences the opportunity to encounter the depth, vitality and creative force of the Asia Pacific region.’
Tarun Nagesh, Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art, QAGOMA, said: ‘Rising Voices has been carefully curated to celebrate the great depth and dynamism of contemporary art from the Asia Pacific region, signalling influential moments and featuring pioneering artists across its immense range of artistic contexts.’
