Diaspora is defined as ‘the dispersion of people from their homeland or a community formed by people who have exited or been removed from their homeland’. Commentary on diasporic experience is woven through our three current exhibitions: Thao Nguyen Phan: Becoming Alluvium, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan:See/Through, and The Churchie Emerging Art Prize 2021.
How can dedicated spaces for hybrid identities assist people of colour to reimagine their contributions and sense of self? In this panel discussion, local emerging artists and arts workers share their insights into the value of spaces for Meanjin/Brisbane’s diasporic art communities. The discussion—with Mark du Potiers from XYZ ARI, Lucy Nguyễn-Hunt from Anthem ARI, Ty Goddard from Thicc Shake, and Naavikaran—will be facilitated by Aniway Aquilizan.
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Aniway Aquilizan is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based artist and writer, with a background in art history and community development. Her research focuses on shared cultural practices, diasporic identities, memory, defiant temporalities, and reimagining colonial exchanges. Since 2016, she has worked on collaborative projects with Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan and her four siblings through their collective Fruitjuice Factory Studio. Her experience, in migrating from the Philippines with her family in 2006, has informed her passion for finding alternative systems of storytelling and connection through collaborative art making. Aniway works as an activity assistant at GOMA’s Children’s Art Centre and as a peer mentor at Code Blue for Autism in West End.
Lucy Nguyễn-Hunt is an emerging artist interested in healing personal and community traumas through lens-based practice. Through their Queer and culturally hybrid gaze, Nguyễn-Hunt seeks to decolonise the self, reimagining and reconstructing the body and the systems it exists within. In 2021, Nguyễn-Hunt co-founded Anthem ARI, to offer a dedicated platform for First Nations, diasporic, and LGBTQIA+ identifying creatives of colour in Australia.
Mark du Potiers negotiates cultural identity and anxiety through sculpture, drawing on his experience as an Australian with a Hongkonger and Chinese heritage. His work references queerness—and its intersection with mental-health challenges—through a multicultural perspective. He has exhibited across Australia and Hong Kong; has had residencies at Museum of Brisbane, Metro Arts, and ACE Open; and was a finalist in Midsumma, Footscray, and Incinerator prizes. He is a founding member of XYZ ARI.
Ty Goddard is a performer, drag artist, and producer from Meanjin/Brisbane. Goddard is a proud descendent of the blackbirded slaves brought from Vanuatu to work in Queensland‘s burgeoning sugar industry. This family heritage informs much of their work in nightlife entertainment and theatre making. Goddard performs in Thicc Shake Crew, the all-drag hip-hop crew, and is part of The House of Alexander; was creative director for Voyage to the Galax-She and Rhythmology; and is a Junior Creative Producer for Back Bone Youth Arts.
Naavikaran is an all-round goddess in the form of a multi-gender transwoman, badass entrepreneur, community educator, organiser, writer and choreographer from India, based in Meanjin/Brisbane. In 2019, Out For Australia named them one of Australia’s under-thirty LGBTIQ+ leaders. As a theatre producer and performer, they starred in The Neighbourhood at La Boite, Future Ancestors at Metro Arts, and Tales from the Colony by The Skin Deep Collective. They are the founder of Ruhmantic, a royal chai brand and experience that supports artists and storytellers of colour. Their latest tracks ‘The Closet’ and ‘Mansion of Grace’ can be found on all streaming platforms, including Spotify.
