Dialogue
Brian Martin (artist); Kaili Chun (artist)
Moderator: Megan Tamati-Quennell (curator of modern and contemporary Māori and Indigenous art and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)
Physical and Spiritual Geographies is a conversation between Bundjalung, Kamilaroi and Muruwari creative practitioner and academic Brian Martin and Kanaka Ōiwi Hawaiian sculptor and installation artist Kaili Chun. Moderated by Sharjah Biennial 16 co-curator Megan Tamati-Quennell, this discussion will centre on the dynamic interrelationship between land, Indigenous art, cultural practice and belief. Martin will speak about the engaged and responsive process related to mark-making and carving and his work Baw-li burriin thara (‘to sing the bark of a tree or a shield’) (2023), which activates a reciprocal kinship with country. Chun will spotlight how her work is tied to Indigenous people, land and culture as well as the ‘embodiment of our ancestors’ and our connections to the earth, the sky and the restless space we occupy in-between.