OPENING EVENT
Friday 13 February, 6pm
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GALLERY 1
Through Our Eyes
Through Our Eyes invites audiences into a living archive where African-Australian experiences are neither monolithic nor marginal but richly textured, complex, and foregrounded. As this continent’s demographic makeup transforms and the African diaspora affirms new forms of cultural belonging, this project refuses reductive narratives, offering instead a constellation of perspectives shaped by migration, kinship, and the ongoing pursuit of safety and self-definition.
Each artist’s work investigates love as a connective force, whether through the quiet intimacy of brotherhood, the collective sanctuary of community hubs like The Mall, or the resilience nurtured in and beyond public housing estates. The act of photographing and being photographed is itself a negotiation of trust, consent, and visibility, sensitive to the nuances of tradition, faith, and personal agency.
This exhibition does not seek to resolve the complexities of African-Australian identity but rather to make space for their expression and transformation. You are invited to witness, listen, and participate: to move beyond passive viewership towards an active, caring engagement with stories too often sidelined.
Through photography, film, and community voice, Through Our Eyes opens new imaginative futures of solidarity, dignity, and joy grounded in lived experience and creative resilience.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Panashe – Beautiful Black Boys
Panashe’s series centres on African-Australian male-identifying individuals, challenging harmful stereotypes with vibrant, dignified portraiture. The project celebrates individuality, brotherhood, and emotional strength, offering deeper representations of Black masculinity.
Hussein – The Mall
A documentary exploration of Heidelberg West’s Somali community, Hussein’s photographs reflect the significance of place as a vessel for collective history, connection, and identity. Sensitive to community norms and tradition, the project collaborates with subjects to reveal the layered meanings and memories embedded in “The Mall.”
Basil – The Lives of African Australians
Basil’s approach weaves together public and private moments across Melbourne’s African-Australian communities, investigating familial love, solidarity, and the lasting impact of migration and displacement. The work is a witness to both resilience and struggle, using the medium’s possibilities to capture the human experience with subtlety and respect.
Dr Ayooluwatomiwa “Ibukun” Oloruntoba (Curator)
A Nigerian-Australian medical researcher, advocate, and emerging curator active across community, academic, and creative sectors. His work foregrounds the urgency of visibility, health justice, and cultural belonging for African Australians, drawing on experience in anti-racism programs, academic research, and social advocacy.
Dr wani toaishara (Mentor)
A multidisciplinary artist, writer, and curator whose practice is grounded in Black and Indigenous solidarities, as well as critical and collaborative curatorial methodologies. Renowned for poetic, community-collaborative exhibition-making and deep engagement with issues of memory, care, and transformative justice in the arts.