Panel Discussion
Oceanic Continuance: Walking Backwards into the Future
Indigenous communities have been affected by dispossession and knowledge loss as a result of colonialism. Many Western museum collections hold the spoils of colonial expropriation, raising questions about stewardship, reparation and agency. How are Oceanic communities reconnecting with their ancestral treasures held in museums, and what role can art play in these processes? What changes are occurring, and what challenges still exist?
The panel draws on the project by American-Vietnamese artist Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn in collaboration with Stanley Inum, a descendant of the Luf boat builders in Papua New Guinea. They visited the Humboldt Forum in Berlin to reconnect for the first time with the Luf Boat, a vessel taken from Luf Island in 1903. The discussion will examine recent initiatives by Pacific creatives and museum professionals and the role of art in building connections between communities and their heritage as a significant step toward knowledge restitution.
The discussion, chaired by Lyall Hakaraia, will include panelists Oe Arefasu, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Alice Christophe and Lau Batty.
This event is part of the public programme for our current exhibition Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn: When Water Embraces Empty Space (24 January – 5 April 2025).
