Jasmine Togo-Brisby Explained

Jasmine Togo-Brisby (born 1982) is a South Sea Islander artist known for her sculpture installations and portrait photographs.[1] [2] She currently resides in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington and is one of few artists that centres Pacific slave labour as the focus of her practice.

Early life

Togo-Brisby was born in 1982 in Queensland, Australia. The early years of her life were spent in Tweed Heads, Northern New South Wales and then later in Townsville and Mackay, Queensland. She traces her ancestral lineage to the islands of Ambae and Santo that make up the Pacific nation Vanuatu.[3] [4] [5]

Her first memories of looking at South Sea archives is how her interest in photography began. South Sea Island culture developed out of these documented images. On an annual basis she remembers as a child, her community searching through archives to piece together their history and locate their ancestors. Togo-Brisby's multidisciplinary art practice is described as being "personally motivated" by curator, Gordon-Smith.[6] Togo-Brisby says:

Through my work I’m trying to create another space for our ancestors to exist within.
Subsequent to completing High School, TogoBrisby relocated to Brisbane in 2012 Togo-Brisby and completed a Diploma of Visual Art at the Southbank Institute of Technology. She went on to study a Bachelor Degree (Honours), in Fine Art at Massey University, Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington and Griffith University, Southbank, Brisbane completing in 2017. In 2019 she studied for a Masters in Fine Art also at Massey University.[7]

Career

Togo-Brisby is best known for her exploration of South Sea Islanders and the historical to present-day impact slavery has had on her community.[8]

Togo-Brisby's sculpture Bittersweet (2013–2015) was first exhibited in Aotearoa at Te Uru, curated by Ioana Gordon-Smith.[9] The catalyst for this work was the uncovering of a large scale unmarked burial ground on what was previously a plantation in the northeastern state of Queensland in Australia. The work is described: "Installed on a plinth in a dark gallery, a pile of skulls cast in unrefined sugar and resin glisten under the gallery lights, giving off a sickly-sweet smell."

Her exhibition Dear Mrs Wunderlich (2020), alludes to the unearthing of records she had been investigating that authenticate the blackbirding of her great-great-grandmother, who became the legal property of the Wunderlich family in the 1800s.

She opened her first major solo exhibition Hom Swit Hom (2022) at Artspace Mackay in Mackay, Queensland.[10] Togo-Brisby says:

Mackay has the largest population of Australian South Sea Islanders, so this is a monumental exhibition for me and something that has been a long time coming.

Solo exhibitions

2013

2019

2020

2022

Group exhibitions

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2022

Awards and residencies

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jasmine Togo-Brisby – Overview. 25 January 2022. Page Galleries. en.
  2. Web site: City Gallery Wellington. 5 February 2022. citygallery.org.nz. en.
  3. Web site: Jasmine Togo-Brisby. Auckland Art Gallery.
  4. Teaiwa. Katerina. 2021. About the Artist: Jasmine Togo-Brisby. The Contemporary Pacific. 33. 2. vii–xv. 10.1353/cp.2021.0032. 245337725. 1527-9464. 10125/105256. free.
  5. Tautai . March 2019 . Jasmine Togo-Brisby . Jasmine Togo-Brisby.
  6. Web site: Jasmine Togo-Brisby – Biography. 9 February 2022. Page Galleries. en.
  7. Web site: Dunedin School of Art Residency . Creative New Zealand.
  8. Web site: femisphere.co.nz. 11 February 2022. femisphere.co.nz.
  9. Web site: Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Bitter Sweet . Te Uru . 21 March 2022.
  10. News: 31 January 2022. Human skulls made of sugar part of exhibition exploring Australia's dark and forgotten slave trade. en-AU. ABC News. 15 February 2022.
  11. Web site: 23 July 2013. Journey Blong Yumi opens at Logan Art Gallery. 13 February 2022. State Library Of Queensland. en.
  12. Web site: Tunstall. Elizabeth Dori. Melbourne Fringe review: DNA (Deadly Nui Art) at Blak Dot Gallery. 13 February 2022. The Conversation. en.
  13. Web site: From here and there. 13 February 2022. www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au. en-AU.
  14. Book: Tonga. Ane. Influx. St Paul St Gallery. Pataka Porirua Museum of Arts and Cultures. Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust. 2016. Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust. 978-0-473-36895-1. Auckland. English. 1038416076.
  15. Book: Gordon-Smith. Ioana. Handle with care. [Jasmine Togo-Brisby & Andrew Ananda Voogel]]. Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery. 2016. Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery. Auckland. English. 1046615189.
  16. Web site: Late Night: Tākiri, An Unfurling. 13 February 2022. Maritime Museum New Zealand. en.
  17. Web site: 29 July 2019. The past is ahead, don't look back. 12 February 2022. State Library Of Queensland. en.
  18. Web site: Māori and Pacific creatives weave art and tech together for digital exhibition -. 13 February 2022. Massey University. en-NZ.
  19. Web site: Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda . 2022-05-02 . Auckland Art Gallery . en.

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