“In a climate crisis, where it seems people would instead do anything but listen to Indigenous peoples, our practice of endurance is a radical tradition,” writes Lilah Benetti @easylilah in AMA’s latest issue. • Read the full article by purchasing a copy of the Autumn edition or subscribing via the link in bio. • Images: Lilah Benetti, from the series ‘Black and Blur’, 2024; commissioned by Photo Australia for PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography @photofestivalau; courtesy the artist • #PHOTO2024FESTIVAL

Art Monthly Australasia is pleased to announce Oliver Giles @oliver.giles as the magazine’s new Editor. Oliver Giles is a writer and editor with extensive experience in print and digital publishing. He has covered developments in contemporary art for international news organisations such as The Guardian, CNN and Forbes. He was previously the Executive Editor of the Tatler Asia Group, where he managed the editorial team in Hong Kong and oversaw art coverage for the eight Tatler titles in the region.

Our Autumn quarterly issue, guest-edited by Hayley Millar Baker @hayleymillarbaker and Emily McDaniel @emilymc_d is out now. The latest edition, ‘On endurance’, is a photography special featuring Lilah Benetti, Hannah Brontë, Carmen Winant, Raphaela Rosella, Hoda Afshar, Brenda L. Croft and Julie Rrap (@easylilah, @hannahbronte, @carmen.winant, @raphaelarosella, @hodaafshar, @brendalcroft and @julierrap). • Read Issue 338 by subscribing or purchasing a single issue via the link in bio. • Cover image: Hoda Afshar, ‘Untitled #11’, 2020–23, from the series ‘Aura’; courtesy the artist

“When indigenous people gather for the first time and all formalities observed, a flurry of information sharing begins and commonalities as well as distinctions are understood, carving ways forward in a harmonious way,” writes Nathan Pōhio @nathanpohio (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tau Iwi). • Read the full piece ‘Observations from the Arrival Lounge’ by subscribing or purchasing the Summer 2023/24 quarterly issue via the link in bio. • Images: [1] Lisa Reihana, ‘Ihi’, 2020, still from two-channel UHD-Video video with stereo sound, installed at Aotea – Te Pokapū/Aotea Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland; courtesy the artist; [2] Fred Graham, ‘Kaitiaki’, 2004, installation view, Auckland Domain, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, 2023; photo: Nathan Pōhio; [3] Michael Parekōwhai @mikepltd, ‘The Lighthouse: Tū Whenua-a-Kura’, 2017, installation view, Queens Wharf, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, 2017; courtesy the artist and Michael Lett @michaellettgallery, Tāmaki Makaurau; photo: David St George, courtesy Auckland Council

“From the psychological interiors of the female experience to the creative rendering of one child’s experiences of war, the NGV Triennial represents a range of landscapes and dreamscapes, which turn matter, memory and subjects inside and out,” writes Vanessa Francesca. . For the latest AMA blog review, Francesca interviewed artists Prudence Flint @prudenceflint, Petrit Halilaj @xixellojme and Sheila Hicks @hastingshicks on their works at the NGV Triennial. Read the full piece via the link in bio. . The NGV Triennial is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria @ngvmelbourne until 7 April 2024. . Images: [1] Sheila Hicks, ‘Nowhere to go’, 2022; courtesy the artist and Alison Jacques @alisonjacquesgallery; [2] Prudence Flint pictured in her studio; photo: Karina Dias Pires @karina.dias.pires; [3] Petrit Halilaj, ‘Very volcanic over this green feather’, 2021; photo: Guy Martin @mrguymartin

“Rather than shining a light, we might fold into the depths and complexities of black skies – as political spaces, as imaginative projections, as an unfolding grappling with devastation and a gesturing towards the limitless,” writes Jessyca Hutchens @jessycahutchens (Palyku) on the ‘Black Sky’ exhibition in our latest issue. • Read the full article by purchasing a copy or subscribing via the link in bio. • Curated by Michael Bonner @bonnermick22, Jessyca Hutchens and Lee Kinsella @kinsella.lee, ‘Black Sky’ was presented by the Berndt Museum @berndt.museum, the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery @lwagallery as part of the 2023 Perth Festival @perthfest, and ran from 11 February until 22 April 2023. This article forms part of a new series of essays sponsored by University Art Museums Australia (UAMA). • Images: [1] ‘Black Sky’, exhibition installation view, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Boorloo/Perth, 2023, with the work of the Tennant Creek Brio @tennant_creek_brio; courtesy Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre @nyinkka.nyunyu, Tennant Creek; photo: Rebecca Mansell @rebeccamansell; [2] Joseph Williams Jungarayi and Lévi McLean @__serge_de_nimes, ‘Walala-ka (The Hunt)’, 2020, film still, 1:20mins duration; courtesy the artists; [3] Jimmy Frank Japarula @jimmyfrank1356, ‘Kooloongka’, 2023, installation view, ‘Black Sky’, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Boorloo/Perth, 2023; snappy gum, yakula resin, sinew, earth pigment, metamorphic rock, 64 x 25 x 5cm; courtesy Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre, Tennant Creek; photo: Rebecca Mansell

Art Monthly Australasia was glad to attend the ‘Parallel Structures Symposium’ @_parallelstructures this week on Wiradjuri country/Albury. Working in partnership with Murray Art Museum Albury @mamalbury, Parallel Structures is an Australian Research Council Linkage project @arc_govau developed in collaboration with artists, writers and researchers based at UNSW Art & Design @unswada the Institute for Culture and Society @westsyduniics and Sydney College of the Arts @sca_sydney. Parallel Structures aims to move away from the common method of ‘diversifying’ art museums via audience development, instead turning to curatorial methodologies as offering new ways to think and feel structural change. Parallel Structures commissioned several curatorial fellows to develop projects, including Evenia Anagnostopoulou @hithisisevgenia, Kelly Dezart-Smith @girlwhereyouat, Sebastian Henry-Jones @turbochargedseb, Ruha Fifita @ruhafifita and Lana Nguyen @l_a__n__a . As part of ‘Site School (is cool)’, an offsite project by Lana Nguyen and Sebastian Henry-Jones, participants were taken on a tour of the Community Farm, located on the banks of the Murray River in Wodonga. Motivated by the question of how the museum and its networks can have a more sustainable and reciprocal relationship with the culture from which it collects, ‘Site School (is cool)’ asks local artists and farmers to re-imagine their relationship to creativity and place through skill-sharing workshops. Images: ‘Site School (is cool)’, 2022-24, Community Farm, Dhudhuroa country/Wodonga; photos: James Farley @jamestfarley

“For Janet, the public art projects have involved many layers, from adapting her hand-built ceramic pieces to considering the site-specific context of where the installations will be integrated into First Nations land and place,” writes Freja Carmichael @frejacarmichael (Ngugi people of Quandamooka) in our Summer issue on Indigenous art commissioning. • Read more on Kalaw Lagaw Ya/Meriam Mir artist Janet Fieldhouse’s @janetfieldhouse practice in the full article for a limited time via the link in bio. • Images: [1] Janet Fieldhouse at Urban Art Projects (UAP) @uapcompany in Meanjin/Brisbane; courtesy the artist, National Gallery of Australia @nationalgalleryaus, UAP, Art Makers @artmakers_editions; © UAP, Art Makers; photo: Rachel See; [2] Janet Fieldhouse, Sister Charm, 2023, installation view, National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Kamberri/Canberra, 2023, on loan from the artist and Art Makers; courtesy the artist; image: NGA, Kamberri/Canberra

Work with us! Art Monthly Australasia is seeking an outstanding Editor to help shape the future of the publication. The Editor will be responsible for producing, commissioning, and publishing quarterly print content, along with collaborating with commissioned guest editors, and managing digital publishing for national and international audiences. • Read more about the position and apply via the link in bio. • Image: Art Monthly Australasia covers, 2022, photo: Aishah Kenton @aishah_k

“A building or a wall isn’t just a surface, it is a material with history and politics, which can be reconfigured to convey Indigenous knowledge,” writes Tristen Harwood (Ngalakan) in AMA’s latest issue. • ‘Continuing a Commissioning Legacy’ examines Indigenous art commissioning through the practice of Kent Morris @kent_morris_artist (Barkindji). Read the full article for a limited time via the link in bio. • Images: [1] Kent Morris, ‘Unvanished’, 2022, installation view, Federation Square @fed.square, Naarm/Melbourne, 2022; created in collaboration with Studio John Fish @studiojohnfish, with soundscape design by James Henry @jameshenryphotos and augmented reality by PHORIA @phoria.io; courtesy the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne; photo: Kristian Laemmle-Ruff; [2] Kent Morris, ‘Cultural Reflections – Continuous Connections #1’, 2022, installation view, Monash University @monash_uni, Naarm/Melbourne, 2022; photographic print on aluminium, acrylic paint; Monash University Public Art Commission with the support of the Faculty of Information Technology, 2022; courtesy the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery @vivienandersongallery, Naarm/Melbourne; photo: Andrew Curtis @andrew.curtis.photography

June 08, 2021

Constructing a national narrative: The NCPI in Taipei

June 08, 2021/ Art Monthly

Courtesy the National Center of Photography and Images (NCPI), Taipei

Hold the Mirror up to His Gaze: the Early History of Photography in Taiwan (1869–1949), exhibition installation view, NCPI, Taipei, 2021; courtesy NCPI

A Handful of Dust: from the Cosmic to the Domestic, exhibition installation view, NCPI, Taipei, 2021; courtesy NCPI

The National Centre of Photography and Images (NCPI) in Taipei opened in March this year after months of construction delays that coincided with COVID-19 concerns. The highly anticipated new institution is the first of its kind in Taiwan, and the fruition of persistent lobbying for over 15 years.

Housed in a restored Japanese-era colonial building, the centre aims to develop a Taiwanese history of photography through research, exhibitions and a growing collection. This effort was inspired by a conference held at the fourth Taipei Photo Festival in 1994 that called for the establishment of a photography museum in Taiwan to preserve the ongoing cultural contributions of the medium to Taiwanese society. Recognising the value of images as a cultural heritage and asset, Taiwanese photographers and academics continued to advocate for a dedicated institution, forming the Society of Photographic Museum and Culture of Taiwan in 2006, an association that began to lobby the Ministry of Culture.

By 2014, the restoration of the centre’s building had begun, and the National Taiwan Museum alongside the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts were both involved in organising and developing the collection archives, publications and preservation practices. The government support and effort highlight the ways in which art institutions construct national narratives. For the NCPI, the emphasis on a national photographic history is seen through its inaugural collection exhibition, ‘Hold the Mirror up to His Gaze: the Early History of Photography in Taiwan (1869–1949)’, a large-scale display of 600 images highlighting the changing sociopolitical contexts they were produced in. As the centre seeks to further place Taiwan internationally, it has also hosted the longtime touring exhibition ‘A Handful of Dust: from the Cosmic to the Domestic’, curated by David Campany, as part of its opening program. These objectives, with the establishment of the NCPI, provide a formal framework to promote and advance the photographic medium in Taiwan. The ambitious scope and impressive calibre of the opening exhibitions are promising, as the centre evolves to increase engagement with the public to inspire experiments in contemporary practice.

The NCPI exemplifies a long-term commitment to photography, and its opening came at a time when the Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) had gone into several months of ‘hibernation’ due to financial losses and funding cuts over a difficult few years. A leading photography arts organisation operating since 1974, the ACP has supported some of Australia’s most prominent artists. It is imperative for independent cultural spaces like the ACP to survive and, hopefully, its restructuring (said to be announced by July) will allow it to continue contributing to photography in Australia in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Annette An-Jen Liu, Taipei

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