From 26 July, Pātaka Art+Museum is filling all its galleries with the work of just one artist – the large-scale, mid-career survey exhibition, ungeographic, by Brisbane-based, Australian South Sea Island artist Jasmine Togo-Brisby. Togo-Brisby is an artist with a soaring international profile; in 2024 alone she participated in the Asia Pacific Triennial, the Busan Biennale, the Bangkok Biennale and the Adelaide Biennale. The scale of her ascent in the art world is reflected in the scale of her artworks, with some works measuring up to 10-metres. 

Working across installation, video, photography and sculpture, Togo-Brisby has been pivotal in raising awareness of Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSI). South Sea Islanders are the Australian-born descendants of people brought to Australia between 1847 and 1904 as “indentured labourers”, mainly to work in Queensland's sugar and cotton plantations. Togo-Brisby’s own great-great-grandparents were taken from Vanuatu as part of the Pacific slave trade; a practice that saw people shipped from over 80 Moana islands. 

“Despite having connections to so many nations, Australian South Sea Islanders are often not seen as belonging to any,” says Pātaka Lead Curator, Ioana Gordon-Smith, “In her artwork, Jasmine seeks to create a visual identity specific to them. She draws on archival research, her own family history and the motifs and materials associated with South Sea Islanders that are anchors in her art.” 

An impressive publication will accompany the exhibition, designed by award-winning studio Extended Whānau. This beautiful book will be launched at the exhibition opening and will feature texts by Togo-Brisby; her sister and studio manager, Simone Togo-Brisby; Ioana Gordon-Smith, Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Ruth McDougall, Imelda Miller and Nina Tonga. Until 25 May, there’s an opportunity to support this important publication by purchasing one of Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s limited edition prints.

Jasmine Togo-Brisby also has links with Aotearoa; from 2015 she lived in Wellington with her mother and her daughter while completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2017) and Master of Fine Arts from Massey University (2022). Jasmine credits Moana and Māori communities in Aotearoa with supporting her artistic practice and encouraging her to make space for South Sea identity. She returned to Meanjin/Brisbane in 2022 to continue creating these spaces in Australia. 

Image: Jasmine Togo-Brisby with her work. Photo by Sam Roberts

Jasmine Togo-Brisby: ungeographic

26 July–9 November, 2025
Pātaka Art+Museum
FREE entry, www.pataka.org.nz

For more information, contact:
Rachel Healy, PUBLICIST
E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz