Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific

Item: Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific
Author: KATHLEEN BONDAR

2 days ago
2 min read

V&A South Kensington 16 May 2026 – 10 January 2027

Zac Langdon-Pole, Another World Inside this One, 2024

REVIEW by KATHLEEN BONDAR

Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific brings together work from 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region. The breadth of the Asia Pacific is an eye-opener, spanning Japan to Mongolia, Samoa to Papua New Guinea, Australia to Pakistan, Iran to the Philippines, even Turkey and much, much more.

How on earth can the curators cover the artistic output of an area “home to 60 percent of the global population” in one cohesive display? It’s all to do with the V&A’s partnership with Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art. QAGOMA have been doing this for thirty years with a triennial.

Naomi Hobson, A Warrior without a Weapon 1, 2018; Lola Greeno, Netepa menna, 2018; Ah Xian, China China – Bust no. 4, 1998

It’s certainly a mind-boggling geographical brief and yet, curiously, there are only 70 works on display and 40 artists in the ring. What is more, the exhibition is contained within three or so modest rooms in what must be one of the biggest museums in the world.

The selection process must have been excruciating.

However, statistics and logistics aside, there are many skilfully contrived and thought-provoking works on display. These fall under three thematic umbrellas: Re-Visioning History; Enduring Knowledge and Evolving Faith.

What is most fulfilling about the exhibition is the focus on First Nations’ perspectives. Spanning sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, weaving and body adornment, the artworks are worth checking out.

Montien Boonma, Lotus sound, 1992, © QAGOMA

Dr Christian Thompson tops the exhibition in the first gallery in a video entitled Refuge (2015), singing in Bidjara, a critically endangered Aboriginal language, which he melds with a popular Western tune. And Montien Boonma’s monumental sculpture Lotus Sound (1992), tails the exhibition in the last gallery alongside Takahiro Iwasaki’s three- metre-long suspended sculpture of Japanese architecture, Reflection Model (Perfect Bliss 2010–12) – constructed from Japanese cypress.

Takahiro Iwasaki, Reflection Model (Perfect Bliss), 2010–12

Zac Langdon-Pole’s Another World Inside this One (2024) is inspired by Captain Cook’s (mythological) axe. Its simplicity belies much to consider. Yuki Kihara’s Siva in Motion (2012) is haunting, evoking Tsunami Galu Afi (2009) and Cyclone Evan (2012) in a beautiful, layered dance on video from the perspective of Salome, a fictional 19^th century Samoan woman.

There are many artefacts placing crafts in the spotlight they deserve (Shirley Macnamara’s Vessels using emu feathers and porcupine quills) and Maryam Ayeen and Abbas Shahsavar, Untitled (from ‘Fall in dopamine’ series 2020–21) which casts a light on the surreal side of drug addiction in a relationship.