galang is a striking publication from the Indigenous-led think tank Powerhouse-galang, bringing together essays, journals, conversations, performance documentation, visual art, and critical reflections from First Nations, Oceanic, and diasporic artists, curators, and scholars.
This is the first volume of two in total. Here, the collective explores the role of museums and cultural institutions in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous peoples, while simultaneously building a sovereign space for cultural exchange, creative practice, and collective thinking. Questions of sovereignty, decolonisation, language, identity, power, kinship, movement, and belonging move throughout the work not as abstract theory, but as living and relational practices.
Published in collaboration with the Powerhouse Museum and Garru Editions, galang volume 01 appeared in March 2022, followed by volume 02 in November 2022. The design itself is exceptional: layered typography, careful use of negative space, rich photographic documentation, and contemporary visual language that feels inseparable from the intellectual and political concerns of the project. The publication formed part of the portfolio that won designer Jenna Lee the 2023 ABDA Emerging Designer of the Year award.
Contributors include Dr Brook Garru Andrew (Wiradjuri/Celtic artist, writer and curator), Dr Léuli Eshrāghi (Sāmoan/Persian/Cantonese artist, curator and scholar), Dr Liisa-Rávná Finbog (Sámi scholar and practitioner of duodji), Lisa Hilli (Papua New Guinea/Australian artist and scholar), Dr Biung Ismahasan (Taiwanese Indigenous Bunun Nation curator, artist and researcher), Gail Mabo (Meriam artist, educator and performer), and Mayunkiki (Ainu artist, educator, performer and musician), among many others. The result is less a conventional art catalogue than a collective intellectual and cultural archive: rigorous, visually stunning, and deeply contemporary.
Hardback. Near fine condition with minimal shelf wear. A beautiful and increasingly scarce contemporary art and theory publication.
