Ua numi le fau
Curated by Léuli Eshrāghi

Gertrude Contemporary was pleased to present, Ua numi le fau, an exhibition developed through Next Wave’s Emerging Curators Program with Gertrude Contemporary for Next Wave Festival 2016.

The exhibition title, Ua numi le fau, is a Samoan expression, literally translating to ‘the string tying the lupe pigeon (prized in Samoa) is entangled' yet metaphorically meaning, 'the affair is complicated and difficult'.

Ua numi le fau considers bodies and kinships through sexuality, spirituality and ecology. Articulated in multiple local and migrant languages and mediums this exhibition reflected on the heritage and practice of Aboriginal civil rights, the union movement and queer rights from Wurundjeri territory of Fitzroy, Collingwood and Abbotsford out into the wider world. 

Curator Léuli Eshrāghi, brought together eight local and international artists that draw on First Nations and diasporic cultural traditions in imagining complex futures through performance video, photography and textile artworks. These works explored what kinds of histories have reached us in the present, and which futures we are constructing in our relationships with each other, with our bodies, and with our environment. The artists included, Yuki Kihara (Apia and Tamaki Makaurau Auckland), Carlos Motta (Mannahatta New York), Frédéric Nauczyciel (Paris), Mandy Nicholson (Narrm Melbourne), Dale Harding (Mianjin Brisbane), Atong Atem (Narrm Melbourne) Megan Cope (Narrm Melbourne) and Robbie Thorpe (Narrm Melbourne).

Léuli Eshrāghi is a Samoan and Persian artist, curator and PhD candidate at Monash University Art Design and Architecutre (MADA). His practice is centred on indigeneity, language, body, soverignty, and queer possibility. He has exhibited in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States. Highlights include The Bill: For Collective Unconscious at Artspace NZ and Future Achaeology at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. Recent curatorial projects include Vai Niu Wai Niu Coconut Water at Kabul-dja Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Queensland; So Fukin Native at Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne; and Wilin 10 at No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne.

Next Wave's long running and highly successful Emerging Curators Program provides the most comprehensive development opportunity for young curators in Australia. Curators are supported to develop research-driven curatorial projects that span broad fields of practice, with one of five partner organisations including Gertrude Contemporary.