TAASA Review Issues

In the December 2024 issue of the TAASA Review we covered one of the most significant exhibitions in Australia’s contemporary art calendar, namely APT11 at QAGOMA, Brisbane. Given TAASA’s forthcoming weekend visit to APT11, we offer a further tantalising preview. Tarun Nagesh, who will be leading the TAASA guided tour, writes about TAMBA, a project which brings together the work of Adivasi-Janajati artists drawn from the 59 indigenous nationalities of Nepal and surrounding regions.

A rare insight into Bhutanese textile traditions is offered by Kencho Dekar who is, as he points out, the only person today in Bhutan engaged full-time in seeking to sustain traditional natural dyeing techniques. As part of his mission to sustain the region’s ecological practices and cultural legacy, Kencho writes about his partnership with the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, University of Melbourne where he has conducted dyeing workshops with students during two residencies in 2022 and 2024 and experimented with new colour sources from plants local to Australia.

One doesn’t always associate batik with India, but batik textile production in West Bengal is the topic of Maria Wronska-Friend’s article. It represents the long-lasting legacy of the great Bengali intellectual Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) whose 1927 visit to Indonesia was the trigger for this initiative, driven by his vision to create pan-Asian unity through cultural exchange. TAASA members will have a further opportunity to hear about this initiative through Maria’s presentation to the TSG in Sydney on 11 March and to see examples of the exquisite saris still produced at Santiniketan, Tagore’s estate in West Bengal.

A profile of Florence Jaukae Kamel, a prominent figure in the cultural and artistic landscape of Papua New Guinea (PNG), is the third textile themed article in this issue contributed by curator and arts worker Dan Toua. Florence is renowned for her contributions to the traditional craft of making bilum (a type of net bag made from natural fibres), a practice deeply embedded in the social and cultural fabric of the country. Florence’s work in incorporating bilum designs into contemporary fashion is ensuring that this traditional craft remains a vital part of PNG’s cultural identity and artistic legacy. The multidisciplinary work of contemporary Chinese artist Cao Yu is covered by Luise Guest’ article, an insightful account of her conversation with this subversive artist who questions being labelled an ‘artist’ and a ‘feminist’ but whose courageous work challenges norms and pushes boundaries in order to ‘do interesting things’.

James Bennett’s article reviews the current state of museums in Indonesia, canvassing issues such as who should ‘own’ treasures repatriated by ex-colonial authorities and how museums should define their identity. He posits West Nusa Tenggara State Museum as offering a good example of positive changes in parts of the museum sector where there is growing professionalism and a commitment to research excellence. Of great interest is the Museum’s participation in the Second Islamic Arts Al-Diriyah Biennale in Saudi Arabia (along with two other Indonesian museums), especially significant due to a long history of Indonesian Islamic art being ignored, or only receiving tokenistic representation, in international exhibitions.

Commitment by museums to research excellence is demonstrated by Yuexiu Shen’s article which outlines the result of her research into a pair of calligraphic screens in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Yuexiu not only provides a translation of the six couplets written in robust calligraphic style by Japanese artist Ichikawa Beian c. 1850, we also gain an increased understanding of the context in which these screens were produced and the sophisticated symbolism and literary allusions embedded in these elaborately composed lines.

The purchase of a pair of Chinese porcelain vases from the Liling kilns in Hunan Province, presented to the ‘Hon. Neville K. Wran Premier of NSW’, inspired Iain Clark to undertake further research into the vases themselves and the kilns that produced them. The exact dates of their production and gifting to Neville Wran remain enigmatic, but of even greater interest is the history of the Liling kilns which Iain provides and their use since the very early 1900s as official wares and as porcelains frequently presented to foreign leaders and dignitaries.

Our last article is Lindie Ward’s research into a finely inlaid coromandel wood jewellery casket c1660 in the collection of the National Trust. Lindie explores the origins of this kind of casket, crafted in Imperial Mughal workshops, and speculates that two intriguing, figured metal escutcheons attached to the keyholes may relate to the Dutch ‘auricular’ style so fashionable at the time.

Finally, Christine Sumner has provided a moving obituary for Liz Williamson which celebrates her brilliant career as weaver, researcher, academic and mentor.