Mother tongue
Artist
Togo-Brisby, Jasmine
Production date
2020
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Object Detail
Title
Mother tongue
Production date
2020
Medium
single-channel video, colour, sound, 16:9
Measurements
9 min 30 sec
Object type
Edition
1/3
Interpretive text
Mother tongue is a cinematic-quality moving image artwork shot on location in Deborah Bay, Aotearoa New Zealand, at the wreckage of the historical ship Don Juan. Robert Towns, owner of the Don Juan and proponent of the ‘blackbirding’ trade, commissioned Captain Grueber in 1863 to ‘recruit’ and transport Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu Islanders) to work at his plantation outside Brisbane. For artist Jasmine Togo-Brisby, the wreckage of the Don Juan, left without signposting and only revealed at low tide, speaks deeply to her and her Australian South Sea Islander community’s story. Three generations—the artist’s daughter, the artist, and the artist’s mother—perform rituals as a lament. In the artist’s words:
[My] daughter Eden launches the rowboat into the water and on its trajectory, she then goes back to the safety of the shore and awaits its arrival. In the rowboat, [I row] with [my] mother, Christina Togo as passenger. The boat moves out further into the water, Christina the matriarch of the family holding a small bottle of oil, blesses the bones of the ship, singing in and speaking in tongues –where English words fall short and custom language has been irradicated. –artist statement, April 2021
The anniversary of the arrival of the Don Juan at the Brisbane port is observed every year by the Australian South Sea Islander community. Says Togo-Brisby, it ‘is a time to commemorate and celebrate their ancestors and their own resilience and survival.’
Born in Murwillumbah in 1982, Togo-Brisby studied visual arts in Brisbane and had her first exhibition at Logan Art Gallery in 2013. She has exhibited at several regional Queensland galleries as well as the First Nations specialised art space Black Dot Gallery in Melbourne. She began her visual arts degree at the Queensland College of Art and completed at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017. Since then, she has exhibited in several group and touring exhibitions across Aotearoa New Zealand institutions. In 2019 Togo-Brisby featured in Plantation Voices: Contemporary Conversations with Australian South Sea Islanders, an exhibition curated by Queensland Museum’s Imelda Miller, and in 2021 she presented a commission at a group exhibition Nyinalanginy / The Gathering at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. This year she completed her Master of Fine Art in Wellington. Togo-Brisby’s artwork has been featured in Artlink and most recently featured in the March 2021 issue of Artist Profile. Her 2022 exhibition at Artspace Mackay will be her largest solo exhibition to date. Works by Togo-Brisby are held by Auckland Art Gallery, Wellington City Art Collection, New Zealand National Maritime Museum and State Library of Queensland.
Artspace Mackay 2021
[My] daughter Eden launches the rowboat into the water and on its trajectory, she then goes back to the safety of the shore and awaits its arrival. In the rowboat, [I row] with [my] mother, Christina Togo as passenger. The boat moves out further into the water, Christina the matriarch of the family holding a small bottle of oil, blesses the bones of the ship, singing in and speaking in tongues –where English words fall short and custom language has been irradicated. –artist statement, April 2021
The anniversary of the arrival of the Don Juan at the Brisbane port is observed every year by the Australian South Sea Islander community. Says Togo-Brisby, it ‘is a time to commemorate and celebrate their ancestors and their own resilience and survival.’
Born in Murwillumbah in 1982, Togo-Brisby studied visual arts in Brisbane and had her first exhibition at Logan Art Gallery in 2013. She has exhibited at several regional Queensland galleries as well as the First Nations specialised art space Black Dot Gallery in Melbourne. She began her visual arts degree at the Queensland College of Art and completed at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017. Since then, she has exhibited in several group and touring exhibitions across Aotearoa New Zealand institutions. In 2019 Togo-Brisby featured in Plantation Voices: Contemporary Conversations with Australian South Sea Islanders, an exhibition curated by Queensland Museum’s Imelda Miller, and in 2021 she presented a commission at a group exhibition Nyinalanginy / The Gathering at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. This year she completed her Master of Fine Art in Wellington. Togo-Brisby’s artwork has been featured in Artlink and most recently featured in the March 2021 issue of Artist Profile. Her 2022 exhibition at Artspace Mackay will be her largest solo exhibition to date. Works by Togo-Brisby are held by Auckland Art Gallery, Wellington City Art Collection, New Zealand National Maritime Museum and State Library of Queensland.
Artspace Mackay 2021
Credit line
Mackay Regional Council Art Collection, purchased 2021.
Accession number
2021.44
Subject auto tags
Water
Plant
Atmospheric phenomenon
Landscape
Asphalt
Circle
Bird's-eye view
Road
Urban design
Road surface