Review 2015

30-31 / 88

The artist scoured local salvage yards for the remains
of dismantled Queensland buildings, in the process also
choosing bits of old bridges and timber from the recently
removed Shorncliffe Pier at Sandgate.
Looking into Brisbane’s architectural history, Waqif discovered
the story of the Deen Brothers company — fifth-generation
Australians, originally from India — who have been associated
with the sometimes surreptitious demolition of many local
buildings. The major installation work, titled All we leave behind
are the memories, is not a lamentation but a reminder that
sometimes destruction allows for adaptation and innovation.
Rosanna Raymond’s SaVAge K’lub plays off the nineteeth-
century gentlemen’s club of the same name, moving emphasis
to the ‘VA’ within ‘SaVAge’, which invokes Samoan philosophical
understandings of space. Raymond invited a diverse group
of Pacifika performers and artists to imbue the K’lub with
their presence.
‘ WHAT IS
IMPORTANT
TO ME IS THE
PERPETUATION
OF HERITAGE
KNOWLEDGE,
NOT ITS END
PRODUCT.’
Asim Waqif
CLOCKWISE FROMTOP LEFT /
AsimWaqifvisitsKennedy’s
Timbers /July2015 /
Photograph:MarkSherwood
During the opening weekend /
November 2015 / Photograph:
Chloë Callistemon
AsimWaqif during installation /
November 2015 / Photograph:
Chloë Callistemon
APT8 Members’ Preview / November
2015 / Photograph: Natasha Harth
Rosanna Ramyond and fellow
performers activate SaVAge K’lub
2010–ongoing / November 2015 /
Photographs: Natasha Harth
and Joe Ruckli
A site-specific
intervention by Indian
artist Asim Waqif
filled the full height
and nearly the length
of GOMA’s Long Gallery.
‘It is an active space.
It is activated by people.
It binds people and things
together. It forms relationships,
and reciprocal obligations.’
ROSANNA RAYMOND
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