Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands at GOMA

Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands, currently showing at The Gallery of Modern Art is one of those rare exhibitions that you walk away from with the compelling drive to advise everyone you know to get themselves along to. Though its schedule at GOMA is in competition with the more widely publicized Surrealism exhibition, Land, Sea and Sky is by no means the lesser of the two.

The show spreads across the two main gallery spaces of GOMA’s third floor, framed by a 50-metre mural by artist Alick Tipoti that engulfs the Pavilion Walk; an intermission that equals the thrill of each half of the exhibition. The mural is engrossing. So much so, that there is real danger of bumping into other awed visitors – necks all craning to take in every last detail. This massive depiction of Kaigus, the shovel-nosed shark and the creation of the Milky Way, expands on Torres Strait folklore with grandeur, dynamism and detail – setting the stage for the rest of the show.

In the first of the two galleries the multiple facets of the exhibition are separated by high, rounded walls, brindled with many beautiful dance machines, executing the various stages of their function. It’s difficult not to sweep your eyes across the machines above you – all halted, as if mid-dance –and imagine beyond the walls. It gives you a sense of a culture, paused, without stifling the energy and life of its people.
The extensive display of intricate dance machines work in conjunction with the documentary videos spread throughout to expand on this integral part of Torres Strait cultural practice and expression.  These videos feature on each side of the gallery – not in separate rooms, nor with headphones; but left to run – filling the entire space with voices, music, and song. Walking around imposing headdresses such as Black Bamboo Triple Hammerhead Shark (1991), by Ken Thaiday Snr, their splendour is heightened by that soft echo of song throughout the show.

Matching the caliber of the first space, the second half of Land, Sea and Sky moves on to display more textile work, prints as well as ceramics. The textile baskets are a definite high point to the show, bringing to peak the holistic approach to use of locally sourced materials. Land, Sea and Sky expands on creative practices in Torres Strait culture that aren’t widely known or understood – bringing with each display an educational element and allowing the works to be admired with a deeper sense of their artistic merit.
 As an exhibition that had potential to lean toward an anthropological method of display, it surprises with the subtle curatorial difference that brings reality to a culture, rather than simply documenting it. The overall atmosphere of Land, Sea and Sky becomes almost like a surrogate for an authentic experience of Torres Strait culture and brings to light a lot that isn’t well known of their artistic expression. This is an exhibition that holds true to the title The Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration.

By Dana Lawrie