Oceanic Art Society

Oceanic Art Society XIII Forum Raffle
2025-09-23 08:00 - 2025-11-14 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Pl E, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
Help offset the costs of hosting this free Oceanic Art Society Annual Forum. The Oceanic Art Society is a voluntary, not-for-profit Association supporting Oceanic arts. This raffle will help offset the travel costs of guest speakers, and the costs associated with hosting the Forum. Your support will be greatly appreciated.
First Prize is a Phantom Shield from Waghi Valley, in New Guinea Highlands.
Second Prize is the recently published SEA Art: South East Asian Art
Third Prize is a framed artwork by John Suine.
Buy your tickets now.

NOTE: If you live outside the designated areas covered in the Raffletix system please contact Jim Elmslie at jelmslie@ozemail.com.au for assistance in purchasing raffle tickets.

Oceanic Art Speaks - Ian McNiven
2025-10-14 19:30 - 20:30 | Online Lecture
Updating research on artefact sharing between New Guinea and Australia

Dr Ian McNiven last spoke to the Oceanic Art Society in 2019 where he talked about artefact distributions between New Guinea and NE Australia via Torres Strait in terms of what he calls the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere (CSCIS).
Since then, Ian and his team’s research has new archaeological evidence that not only supports the idea of the CSCIS but also provides a chronology for its time depth of around 3000 years. In addition, oral histories have come to light from the Torres Strait that support the idea of Melanesian voyaging down the Great Barrier Reef and trading interactions between Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal peoples.
This important lecture will update current knowledge on artefact sharing between New Guinea and Australia and also add the new archaeological and oral history information that supports ideas on long-term and long-distance interactions between Melanesian and First Nations Australians.

Register for this free online event.

Gala Preview & Auction Evening | Sydney Oceanic Art Fair 2025
2025-11-01 17:00 - 19:30 | Art Leven Gallery, 17 Thurlow Street, Redfern, NSW, 2016, Australia
Sydney Oceanic Art Fair
Gala Preview and Auction Evening
Saturday 1 November | 5.00PM – 7.30PM
Art Leven | 17 Thurlow Street Redfern
OAS is excited to announce a Gala Preview and Auction evening. Participants will be able to preview traders’ exhibits, bid at an auction of items kindly donated by traders and members to raise funds for the OAS (Oceanic Art Society, a non-profit organisation), mingle with other guests and enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres.
Purchases to be settled please (or suitable arrangements made) on the evening.
ENTRY $20 PER PERSON PAYABLE AT THE DOOR

Sydney Oceanic Art Fair 2025
2025-11-02 09:00 - 16:30 | Art Leven Gallery, 17 Thurlow Street, Redfern, NSW, 2016, Australia
Main Fair Day
Sunday 2 November | 9.00AM – 4.30PM
Art Leven Gallery | 17 Thurlow Street Redfern

Ethnographic rarities and collectables from Oceania, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific, Australia, South East Asia, the Americas, New Zealand and many other parts of the world. Masks, carvings, weapons, textiles, artefacts, jewellery, utensils, pottery, prints and books on art, culture and anthropology. A fascinating display with great pieces at great prices!
ENTRY $5 PUBLIC, $2 STUDENTS
ENQUIRIES: 0422 010 051

XIII OAS Forum in Canberra
2025-11-14 - 2025-11-15 | National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Pl E, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
Oceanic Art Society XIII Forum – Papua New Guinea Art: Past, Present & Future
Journey to Canberra and join us for the XIII Oceanic Art Society Forum on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 November 2025.

Day 1 – Fairfax Auditorium, National Gallery of Australia – Friday 14 November
Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country – Jim Elmslie, President Oceanic Art Society
Michael Mel – Papua New Guinea Art: Past, Present, Future
Anna Edmundson – Living Archives – Celebrating 50 years of Papua New Guinea’s Independence
Book Launch – Living Art: Papua New Guinea by Susan Cochrane – by Michael Mel
Eric Kjellgren – Country of A Thousand Faces: The Human Form in the Arts of Papua New Guinea
Chris Boylan & Caroline Sherman – The Bigger Picture: Local adaptations to global influences in contemporary PNG arts
Panel discussion – Evolution of PNG contemporary art – Deveni Temu at Independence / Lesley Wengembo today
Lani Auvita Scott – The Living Thread: Cultural Continuity for the Next Generation
Concluding remarks – Jim Elmslie, President Oceanic Art Society

Day 2 – Saturday 15 November

Join a tour of 1975 at the National Library of Australia with curator Guy Hansen at 10.30 am..
Explore highlights of the Bilong Papua New Guinea exhibition with exhibition co-curator and former Pacific Arts Curator Danielle Toua, now also researching the curation of Pacific art and art objects in Australian national cultural institutions.
Hear Pacific Arts Curator Crispin Howarth present highlights of the Bilong Papua New Guinea exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.
Drop into the National Archives of Australia to see some exhibits celebrating 50 years of Papua New Guinea’s independence.
Let us make sure that we have a seat for you – please register for free today.

Oceanic Art Society XIII Forum Dinner

Join with other lovers of Oceanic Art for a convivial and tasty meal at Kingston’s La Rustica restaurant by the lake.
Chat with the speakers from the Oceanic Art Society Forum. Share memories and your interests in Oceanic Art.
Enjoy the excitement of the live draw of the Oceanic Art Society raffle.
Payment of $95 will ensure you enjoy a full dinner at the acclaimed La Rustica restaurant.
Alcoholic drinks are not included in the ticket price and can be purchased at the bar.
There are limited tickets for this dinner – make sure that you don’t miss out and purchase your ticket today.

Oceanic Art Society XIII Forum Raffle

Help offset the costs of hosting this free Oceanic Art Society Annual Forum. The Oceanic Art Society is a voluntary, not-for-profit Association supporting Oceanic arts. This raffle will help offset the travel costs of guest speakers, and the costs associated with hosting the Forum. Your support will be greatly appreciated.
First Prize is a Phantom Shield from Waghi Valley, in New Guinea Highlands.
Second Prize is the recently published SEA Art: South East Asian Art
Third Prize is a framed artwork by John Suine.
Purchase your raffle tickets now.

AGM 29 November 2025
2025-11-29 08:00 - 17:00 | NSW
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the AGM will now be online only via Zoom.
Zoom https://zoom.us/j/95052297595…]

Oceanic Art Society 30th Anniversary Lunch
2026-02-01 13:00 - 15:30 | Centennial Homestead, 1 Grand Drive, Centennial Park, NSW, Australia
Make space in your diary to attend the Beginning of the Year lunch to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Oceanic Art Society.
Book your ticket today to our anniversary lunch at the wonderful Centennial Homestead set in the glorious grounds of Centennial Park in Sydney, Australia. Gather with like-minded lovers of Oceanic art in the main dining room to enjoy the good food and convivial conversations.
Oceanic Art Society 30th Anniversary Lunch
13:00 pm – 15:30 pm, Sunday 1 February 2026
Centennial Homestead, 1 Grand Drive, Centennial Park, NSW
Your ticket will provide you with a two-course set menu meal at the Centennial Homestead. You will need to pay for your own drinks on the day. Please email info@oceanicartsociety.org.au with any special dietary requirements including vegetarian, gluten free, vegan.

Oceanic Art Society Forum XIV
2026-11-14 | Burrinja Cultural Centre, Upwey, Victoria, Upwey (Melbourne), Victoria, Australia
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.
