{"id":11571,"date":"2021-05-27T04:20:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T04:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=11571"},"modified":"2021-05-27T04:20:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T04:20:02","slug":"landmark-exhibition-showcases-art-and-culture-of-the-torres-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/05\/27\/landmark-exhibition-showcases-art-and-culture-of-the-torres-strait\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark exhibition showcases art and culture of the Torres Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"

Works of art never before seen outside of the Torres Strait will be displayed in Newcastle as part of a landmark exhibition focusing on the artistic traditions of the Torres Strait Islander culture.
\nThe Torres Strait Island flag was raised at City Hall today for the first time in the building\u2019s 92-year history to coincide with the Newcastle Art Gallery exhibition. It will be flown at City Hall permanently as a mark of respect for the local Torres Strait community.
\n\"Brayden
\nFour years in the making,\u00a0WARWAR: The Art of Torres Strait<\/em>\u00a0was developed by Newcastle Art Gallery in collaboration with highly awarded artist and curator Brian Robinson.
\nIt will include over 130 works of art drawn from the Gallery\u2019s collection, as well as newly created pieces and key loans from, local, state and national institutions, artists and private collections.
\nSeveral pieces have not been seen outside of the Torres Strait, including new works from Badhulgaw Kuthinaw Mudh (Badu Art Centre), Ngalmun Lagau Minaral Arts (Moa Arts) and Erub Erwer Meta (Erub Arts).
\nNewcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the free exhibition provided an important opportunity to strengthen ties with local Torres Strait Islanders and showcase their traditions and customs to the wider community.
\nThe exhibition title, WARWAR, is a traditional Eastern Island word in the Meriam Mer language, which translates into English as \u2018marked with a pattern\u2019.
\n\u201cWARWAR is a landmark event for Newcastle Art Gallery and the Hunter region, representing the first time a Torres Strait Islander exhibition of this calibre and size has been seen outside of a major city in Australia,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.
\n\u201cIt provides an important opportunity for City of Newcastle to engage with our large Torres Strait Islander community, some who have never seen these culturally significant works of art before, or seen their culture celebrated in such a significant way.
\n\u201cTo strengthen these ties further, we raised the Torres Strait Island flag at City Hall for the first time in a special ceremony today in front of members of the local Torres Strait community. It will remain there permanently, even once the exhibition ends.\u201d
\nNewcastle-based artist Toby Cedar, who won the 2020 CAIF Ports North Sculpture Award, and teaches dance and culture locally, said the exhibition was an important acknowledgement of Torres Strait Island culture.
\n\u201cIt is extremely special to me to be a part of this exhibition as it will be showcasing our rich Torres Strait Islander art and culture,\u201d Mr Cedar said.
\n\u201cFor many people, the exhibition will be the first time they have learnt anything about the Torres Strait Islands and our People, which is very important to me. The way Brian has curated the exhibition in separate stages explains our history and stories very well.
\n\u201cIt is wonderful that all of the local and surrounding Torres Strait Islander communities will have access to view many of the artifacts from our past here right in NSW, with many of the pieces being shown for the first time.
\n\u201cI will also be very proud to see our Torres Strait Island flag flown at City Hall for the first time with my family as it makes me feel my people are being included and acknowledged alongside the other flags that are already flown there.\u201d
\nNewcastle Art Gallery Director Lauretta Morton said the Gallery had been actively acquiring works of art from Torres Strait Islander artists since 2017, many of which will be on display for the first time. Works of art on loan from major Australian institutions that have also never been publicly displayed before make the exhibition an incredible opportunity for the community to experience and gain a new appreciation and understanding of the culture here in Newcastle.
\n\u201cWARWAR<\/em>\u00a0features a diverse range of works of art that showcase the evolution and strength of Torres Strait Islander tradition and society through arts practitioners from the 19th century and the emergence of the contemporary art traditions of today,\u201d Ms Morton said.
\n\u201cIt explores issues of cultural maintenance, Christianity, language and the impact of globalisation on the physical environment of the Torres Strait Islands, which are located in the narrow stretch of water between the land masses of Zai Dagam Daudai (Australia) in the south and Naigai Dagam Daudai (Papua New Guinea) in the north.\u201d
\nExhibiting artists include Joseph Au, Grace Lilian Lee, Glen Mackie, Billy Missi, Laurie Nona, Brian Robinson, Dr Ken Thaiday and Alick Tipoti.
\nGuest curator Brian Robinson said\u00a0Warwar: The Art of Torres Strait<\/em>\u00a0is an important part of the unique Ailan Kustom (island customs) from which wisdom, strength and creativity is drawn from.
\n\u201cIt is through visual art, dance, and song that ancestral stories and legends are maintained and passed on to the younger generation, and it is important that exhibitions such as this are supported to assist in this preservation,\u201d Mr Robinson said.
\n\u201cNewcastle Art Gallery have played a pivotal role in the co-curation of this unique exhibition, which contributes to the development, enhancement and understanding of this amazing indigenous culture.
\n\u201cFor the local Torres Strait Island communities, the exhibition is a way of reconnecting back to the islands; back to family and friends; back to a rich and vibrant history defined by amazing customs imbued with ceremonies and rituals that have endured for thousands of years.\u201d
\nWARWAR: The Art of Torres Strait\u00a0<\/em>will run from 29 May \u2013 22 August 2021 at Newcastle Art Gallery and has been specifically timed to coincide with significant dates including Mabo Day, Reconciliation Week, \u2018Coming of the Light\u2019 and NAIDOC Week.
\nNewcastle Art Gallery will program bespoke events on each significant date in collaboration with local Torres Strait Island artists and performers, while a Curator and Artist Talk will be held on Saturday 3 July featuring exhibition guest curator Brian Robinson and local artist Toby Cedar in conversation with Newcastle Art Gallery Director Lauretta Morton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Works of art never before seen outside of the Torres Strait will be displayed in Newcastle as part of a landmark exhibition focusing on the artistic traditions of the Torres Strait Islander culture. The Torres Strait Island flag was raised at City Hall today for the first time in the building\u2019s 92-year history to coincide … Continue reading “Landmark exhibition showcases art and culture of the Torres Strait”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}