Oceanic Art Society Forum XIV

The Oceanic Art Society will be holding its Fourteenth Forum on Saturday 14 November 2026 in conjunction with the opening of Billy Missi’n Waikan Thamai, a national touring exhibition presented by NorthSite Contemporary Arts in partnership with Torres Strait Regional Authority’s Gab Titui Cultural Centre  (TSRA), and toured by Museums & Galleries Queensland.

Forum Title: Art and Material Culture of the Torres Strait Islands
Date: Saturday 14 November 2026
Location: Burrinja Cultural Centre, 351 Glenfern Rd, Upwey, Victoria

Keynote Speakers

• Dr Leah Lui-Chivizhe, a cultural historian of the Torres Strait Islands and Scientia Senior Lecturer and researcher at the University of NSW.Her current research focuses on how nineteenth century collections from the region can revitalise and reconnect Islanders with our pre-colonial histories of human and more-than-human relations and contribute to the decolonising practices of collector institutions. Her book, Masked Histories: Turtle shell masks and Torres Strait Islander people (2022), was highly commended for Australian History in the 2023 NSW Premier’s History Awards.

Meriam koskir: objects, stories and knowledge

In this keynote, Leah will reflect on her collaborative work with Aunty Elsa Day on ‘Meriam koskir: turdi a pe uridli’ for the exhibition, Fault Lines: Imagining Indigenous futures for colonial collections held in 2024-2025 at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

• Professor Ian McNiven, Research Professor of Indigenous Archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne and a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He has undertaken anthropologically informed archaeological research in collaboration with numerous Torres Strait Islander communities for 30 years. He is passionate about Aboriginal and Melanesian material culture and how ethnographic objects can help understand the deep past.

Framing the history of Torres Strait art

The historical development of European artistic traditions is well understood and critical to the appreciation of associated artworks. But what do we know about the long-term historical development of Indigenous artistic traditions? Indeed, how do we even frame such histories in the absence of textual records? This presentation explores how museum ethnographic objects and archaeological evidence can be used to help understand the long-term historical development of Torres Strait artistic traditions over the past 1000 years.

• Dr Jude Philp, Senior Curator, Macleay Collections at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney. Her education from people in Zenadth Kes was part of her PhD in social anthropology. With Anita Herle, Philp edited Recording Kastom (SUP, 2020) a publication of Haddon’s field diaries.

Art/History/Life: the collections of A.C. Haddon in Torres Strait. 

Haddon famously worked with the peoples of Zenadth Kes between 1888 and the 1930s, and during his major fieldwork in 1888 and 1898 collected thousands of Islanders belongings, commissioned those he could not purchase, and took hundreds of photographs. Stored mainly within the British Museum and Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, these belongings hold stories old and new, some personal and some public. This talk focuses is on the public side of the collection and those Islanders who worked closely with Haddon.

• Daniel Dow, Komet and Peibre Tribes of Mer, Murray Island group (Kemer Kemer Meriam), Project Officer, Repatriation Project at the Museum of Queensland

What’s so Secret about the Sacred? 

In story and song, Daniel Dow sheds some light on some of the more mysterious aspects of working with First Nations cultural material. Gain an understanding of the spiritual challenges our First Nations Team face in their work, and how you can support it.

• Theo Tremblay, Master Printmaker from Cairns, Queensland. He is a pioneer of collaborative printmaking and publishing, mentoring Aboriginal and Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait) artists in a range of print over many years. After studying at the Boston Museum School he continued further studies in printmaking at the Ruskin School at Oxford University, Prahran CAE, Melbourne and College of Fine Arts at UNSW) In 1977 he co-founded the Australian Print Workshop in Melbourne. From 1981 – 91 he taught drawing and lithography at the Institute of the Arts, Canberra and established No Fixed Press, printing collaboratively with artists since that time.

Going South, Looking North: Tracking Contemporary Zenadh Kes Printmaking

Theo will provide a historical overview of the evolution of contemporary printmaking as a major movement in Northern Queensland from the mid-1970s to the present current scale and complexity examining successes, weaknesses, opportunities, threats thus exposed.

• Waku – Minaral A Minalay

Screening of David Bridie’s film about Christine Anu (10 mins) about the production of her 2024–2026 project, Waku – Minaral A Minalay, her first original album in 20 years. This follows their collaboration on her iconic 1995 debut Stylin’ Up.

• Billy Missi’n Wakain Thamai, official exhibition opening 

This is exhibition honours the late Torres Strait Islander artist Billy Missi (1970-2012), born on Mabuiag Island who was deeply influenced by the storytelling, song, and dance traditions of his Wagadagam Tribe. Beginning in earnest in the 1990s, his artistic journey combined traditional carving techniques with modern linocut methods, creating a unique aesthetic that earned international recognition before his passing in 2012.

Billy Missi’n Wakain Thamai is a national touring exhibition presented by NorthSite Contemporary Arts in partnership with Torres Strait Regional Authority’s Gab Titui Cultural Centre (TSRA) and toured by Museums & Galleries Queensland.

Welcome to Country / Smoking Ceremony

Song and dance performance by Peggy Missi and Maluilgal Dance Troupe comprising relatives of Billy Missi

More details will follow. Save the date as this event is not to be missed.

Image: Installation view Billy Missi’n Wakain Thamai, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Bulmba-Ja Cairns, QLD, 2020.
Photographer Michael Marzik. Courtesy of NorthSite Contemporary Arts.