Exhibiting Asmat: Pacific Perspectives with Joshua Irwandi and Dr. Maia Nuku

November 14, 2024 at 6:30pm with Q&A and reception to follow

O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium, University of St Thomas

The American Museum of Asmat Art presented an evening with Joshua Irwandi (National Geographic Explorer) and Maia Nuku (Curator for Oceanic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). The enlightening talk covered change in the Asmat region and reenvisioning Pacific art exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and beyond.

This event was presented in conjunction with the Not a Blank Canvas exhibition which was on view at the American Museum of Asmat Art.

Joshua Irwandi - Documentary Photographer

Joshua Irwandi is a National Geographic Explorer is based in Jakarta, Indonesia and was part of VII Photo Agency mentorship program. Irwandi received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Exeter and pursued graduate studies in photojournalism and documentary photography at London College of Communication. While working in West Papua, Indonesia, he focused on a long-term project documenting changes to the Asmat’s identity and landscape. His project “Not a Blank Canvas” was awarded a National Geographic Society storytelling grant in 2021.

Irwandi has received grants from the Forhanna Foundation’s Fund for Young Talent and National Geographic Society’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists. One of his images, “The Human Cost of COVID-19,” sparked controversy in Indonesia when it went viral after publication by National Geographic. In 2021, he was selected as one of the speakers for the National Geographic Society’s Storytellers Summit. Recent awards include the 2021 World Press Photo Award in General News, a Lucie Foundation Grand Prize, and selection as a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography.

Irwandi’s work has been exhibited at Breda Photo Festival in the Netherlands, and featured in National Geographic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NHK, The Times of London, The Globe and Mail, CNN, TIME, and The Guardian. Select images from these projects are on display in the Department of Art History Gallery in the O-Shaughnessy Educational Center.

Dr. Maia Nuku - Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Curator for Oceanic Art

Born in London of English and Māori (Ngai Tai) descent, Dr. Maia Nuku is Curator for the Arts of Oceania at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Maia’s doctoral research focused on eighteenth century collections of Polynesian art and she completed two post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Cambridge (2008-2014) in England as part of an international research team exploring Oceanic art collections in European institutions in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Russia. Researching the collections alongside Pacific artists, practitioners and scholars, the work was collaborative and sought to create access to these collections both in the physical and digital domains. During her time at the Met, Maia has evolved a curatorial approach that centers indigenous Pacific perspectives, grounding the presentation of visual arts from Oceania in the unique conceptual and cosmological connections that make art from the region so compelling. In 2023, her exhibition The Shape of Time: Art and Ancestors of Oceania travelled to two international venues: Museum of Art in Pudong, Shanghai (June 1 – Aug 20, 2023) and the National Museum of Qatar (Oct 23 - Jan 15, 2024). In New York, she is currently working on a major reinstallation of the Oceania galleries at the Metropolitan Museum which will showcase the creativity of indigenous Pacific artists from the 18th century to the present through the compelling lenses of global history, indigenous storytelling, and Pacific oratory and performance.