Blue waters, tropical plants, sunshine, smiling faces. Rising sea levels, deforestation, climate crisis, colonisation.
The islands of the Pacific Ocean have long been touted as idyllic paradises, and their people as carefree and welcoming. But in reality Oceanic peoples are battling climate change faster than the rest of the world, facing cultural decay as a legacy of missionisation, searching for belonging in the aftermath of displacement and continually practicing the code-switching that ‘third culture kids’ are experts in. In the midst of all this, community is the common thread that binds Pacific Islanders together – to lean upon, to share stories and pass on knowledge, to examine diaspora and place, and to continue the cultural uplift of the Oceanic Renaissance.
This exhibition investigates the idea of the Pacific region still being thought of as a ‘paradise’, and the complex underbelly that actually exists. Through ceramics, painting, installation and photography, the artists included in this exhibition interrogate identity, queerness, connection, representation, and what it means to be Pasifika in today’s context of globalism, diaspora, migration and diversity.
Ultimately, Paradise* is a vehicle for Pasifika/Australian artists to explore living between two (or three, or multiple) worlds, and is about (re)indiginisation, cultural revival, and strength in community.
Curated by Dan Toua and featuring work by Tivien Andrews-Homerang, Grace Hasu Dlabik, Sione Monū, Alexander Sarsfield, and Tearia Teaiwa Mortimer, Nicholas Mortimer & Katerina Teaiwa.
*but it’s not all as it seems
Image credit: Alexander Sarsfield, Standing on the paepae (series of 25), 2025, coir mates and acrylic-based paint, 40 x 60 x 2.5cm each. Courtesy of the artist
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