Wayne Crothers, Curator of the major NGV summer exhibition Yayoi Kusama, will take us through selected highlights of this show of nearly 200 works by Yayoi Kusama, renowned globally for her singular and idiosyncratic use of pattern, colour and symbols to create immersive, thought-provoking and intensely personal works of art that transcend language and borders.
Gill Green will present a large cloth banner painted with episodes from the Vessantara Jataka. Clearly of some age, its origin was assuredly Burmese because of its figures’ distinctive dress.
This presentation will introduce the work of Van Kinsbergen and investigate how his images shaped the visual identity of the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch colonial government engaged him as a ‘scientific photographer’ to document, amongst other things, Javanese antiquities.
Images of Peranakans from the dawn of photography to the present, expose the long and complex relationship between cameraman, camera and subject. The dynamic negotiations between these three principal elements produced diverse results.
Location: Annie Wyatt Room at the National Trust Centre
Sally Burdon of Asia Bookroom, Canberra, will discuss how seemingly modest artifacts such as pamphlets, personal papers, propaganda handouts and maps often reveal rich narratives and cultural insights. She will be showing select examples of the ephemeral material she handles while speaking on the philosophy that guides Asia Bookroom.
Susie will examine the burdens of proof commonly placed on war photography and images from colonial contexts. She explores the tensions between photographs as 'evidence' and the more complex histories of violence and resistance that photography can reveal.
