Exhibition

The Shouting Valley: Interrogating the Borders Between Us

 

28 September – 14 December 2019

 

Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Lebanon

 

Hoda Afshar

Iran/Australia

 

Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh

Philippines/Aotearoa New Zealand

 

Cushla Donaldson

Aotearoa New Zealand

 

Jun Yang

Austria/Taiwan/Japan

 

Manus Recording Project Collective

Michael Green, Andre Dao, Jon Tjhia, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, Farhad Bandesh, Behrouz Boochani, Samad Abdul, Shamindan Kanapathi & Kazem Kazemi

Melbourne/Manus Island

I am a shadow of my former self. I no longer smile or laugh like I used to, or make others laugh.

Displayed message from detainee, 501s by Cushla Donaldson

 

The Shouting Valley features artists whose politically motivating and activating work asks us to engage in urgent discussions of injustice in order to effect change.

The works in this exhibition highlight contemporary issues relating to borders and migration, questioning why freedom of movement often appears to be a Western privilege; a subject in the forefront of people’s minds following the tragic events in Christchurch and the controversy surrounding the treatment of refugees at Australian off-shore detention centres. As a country largely populated by migrants, the exhibition resonates with Aotearoa’s diverse history and asks us to think about our own whakapapa.

The exhibition’s title is informed by a work by Turner-prize nominee Lawrence Abu Hamdan called Language Gulf in the Shouting Valley (2013). Located in the Golan Heights, the shouting valley is an area of land with a unique topography that enables an acoustic leak across the border between Syria and Israel. Here, members of the Druze population meet on either side to hear each other’s voices and wave to one another across the divide.

Bringing together major new commissions and artworks never seen before in Aotearoa, the exhibition is intended as an open dialogue between individual perspectives and shared experiences. Through a fervent examination of the politics of the voice, the border and representation, The Shouting Valley foregrounds voices that would otherwise be unheard, and asks for us all to take the time to listen.

 

D O W N L O A D

The Shouting Valley exhibition brochure
List of works
Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh: Pale Blue Dot

 

Essay

The Gulf of Language

 

Ardit Hoxha

 

Essay

A RESPONSE TO LANGUAGE GULF IN THE SHOUTING VALLEY

 

Talei Si’ilata

 

Essay

BECOMING CHINESE OR HOW I GREW UP WITH MEE HOON KUEH ON WEEKENDS

 

Vanessa Mei Crofskey

 

Events

The Shouting Valley

 

 

Art & donuts: The Shouting Valley
28 September 2019

Meng Foon in conversation with Damon Salesa
10 October 2019

Vanessa Crofskey & helpers: we were not born to be stuck
15, 27 & 18 October 2019

Film screening: Island of the hungry ghosts (2018)
1 November 2019

Acoustic leaks, act 1: voices unheard
16 November 2019

Acoustic leaks, act 2: how to listen
14 December 2019

 

Gus Fisher Gallery
74 Shortland Street
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Central 1010

Tuesday – Friday:
10am – 5pm
Saturdays:
10am – 4pm