Issue 48

Taloi Havini: Oceanic Futures

Taloi Havini’s expansive artworks draw on archival, scientific and cultural research, underpinned by a deeply-held commitment to First Nations knowledge systems, particularly those from her home in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Her latest project with Ocean Space in Venice is set to draw together the threads of Havini’s practice in an ambitious and exciting new installation.

FEATURE by Tess Maunder AUGUST 2021

Image credit: Installation view Taloi Havini, Answer to the Call, 2021 in The Soul Expanding Ocean #1: Taloi Havni. Ocean Space, Venice. Photo: gerdastudio. Courtesy the artist and Ocean Space, Venice

 

Another world is not only possible, she’s on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe. 

— Arundhati Roy

 

Taloi Havini’s work reminds me of the gentle call to arms by author and environmentalist Arundhati Roy. The artist’s practice can be described as a constellation of compelling narratives that portray and bear witness to the strength, political resilience and assertions of cultural continuum. These narratives originate from her home in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a chain of islands northwest of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Havini was raised according to Buka cultural practices by political activist parents dedicated to Bougainville, where she responds to her Hakö cultural responsibilities through her Nakas clan ties.

Based between Australia and Bougainville, the artist’s practice is focused on researching intergenerational transmission of Indigenous knowledge systems, particularly those specific to her homeland, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Australian and other internationally-owned copper mines have wreaked havoc on Bougainville for decades, contributing to genocide, colonisation and environmental degradation – issues that Havini seeks to unpack in her practice. Havini’s father, Moses Havini, became a political leader after the beginning of the Bougainville Civil War (1988–1998), which was triggered by the unequal distribution of resources, ethnic cleavages and other factors that arose from the Panguna copper mine, opened in 1972 as a subsidiary of the Australian mining company Rio Tinto – Zinc Corporation.

In an interview I conducted with the artist as part of my edited anthology Absolute Humidity in 2017, I asked Havini what she thinks needs to change in terms of urgent environmental action. She said: “We need to look after our water, oceans and forests. There ...Subscribe to read this article in full

 

MCA Roslyn Oxley Gallery IMALENNOX STNGAACCA Melbourne
Issue 48