Page 26-27 - Annual Review 2009

Relive
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Relive
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With their evocative visual language
of bold and intricate patterning,
barkcloths have been likened to
tattoos: another skin that envelops
the wearer in cultural significance
and beauty.
Maud Page, Curator, Pacific Art
Paperskin: Barkcloth
across the Pacific
31 October 2009 – 14 February 2010, QAG
An exhibition of delicately patterned textiles
and stunning large sculptural works and
ceremonial objects, ‘Paperskin: Barkcloth
across the Pacific’ presented works from
the eighteenth century to the present. Since
its introduction from South-East Asia, cloth
made from the beaten bark of paper mulberry,
banyan and breadfruit trees has played an
important role in island cultures in the Pacific.
For generations, this cloth has been an essential
part of everyday life, as well as being worn and
exchanged in familial and political ceremonies
and performances. Drawn from the collections
of the Queensland Art Gallery, Museum of
New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Queensland
Museum, and a private collector, the exhibition
showed works from Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga,
Hawai‘i, Futuna, the Solomon and Cook Islands,
Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
The exhibition was organised by Queensland Art Gallery,
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and
Queensland Museum.
‘Paperskin: The Art of Tapa Cloth’ will show at the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa,
18 June – 26 September 2010.
Thru the Lens: Palm Island
Youth Photography Project
4 July – 9 August 2009, GoMA
‘Thru the Lens’ captured scenes of Palm
Island through the eyes of the island’s
youth. Bwgcolman Future Inc., a local, non-
government organisation, ran a filmmaking
and photographic workshop in 2007. Some 35
young people took part, and one of the results
was the exhibition, ‘Thru the Lens’.
World renowned athlete Catherine Freeman
officially opened the exhibition, and celebrated
its launch with some of the young artists from
Palm Island.
Presented by the Queensland Art Gallery in association
with the Catherine Freeman Foundation, Bwgcolman
Future Inc. and Department of Communities.
Top: Installation view of ‘Paperskin: Barkcloth across the Pacific’
Above: Maud Page, Curator, Pacific Art, Queensland Art Gallery, speaking at
the exhibition’s opening, and Imelda Miller, Queensland Museum, one of the
exhibition’s co-curators.
Visitors viewing works from ‘Thru the Lens’.
Catherine Freeman at the ‘Thru the Lens’ opening event.