Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Taloi Havini

The design of artist Taloi Havini’s Shared Aspirations exhibition was developed to reconcile the presentation of the social and political archives that the artist inherited from her parents. The archives document the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s Autonomous Region of Bougainville’s pro-secessionist movements, participation in Bougainville ceasefire talks held in New Zealand, transitions towards a constitution, and the wider peace process.

The design emphasises the public and private nature of the archives. In the gallery the visitor experience moves between the scenarios of a formal negotiation table, a social side-event to a conference, a family living room, and a village court reconciliation process, along with paintings by the artist’s mother, Marilyn Taleo Havini, of sites of historical significance.