Join us as we both welcome and celebrate the opening of PICA’s winter exhibitions Love in Bright Landscapes, curated by Annika Kristensen; I don’t see colour by Australian-Fijian artist Salote Tawale; and Leitī by Sione Monū.

Love in Bright Landscapes, curated by Annika Kristensen, considers Perth and Los Angeles as comparative case studies, bringing together a selection of artworks made in reference to the characters, qualities and topographies of the two west coast cities. Through the work of artists living, working, hailing from, or passing through both cities, Love in Bright Landscapes explores the possibilities of contemporary art in contributing to ongoing stories of identity, purpose, presence and place in the cities of Perth and Los Angeles.

I don’t see colour presents a new body of work by Australian-Fijian artist Salote Tawale, the starting point for which is a conversation that took place between the artist and a philosophy student at a party in the UK. Presenting painting, installation and video, “I don’t see colour” is a response to this exchange and an attempt to process the implications of this statement in the face of the unevenly felt impacts of climate change brought on by colonial and capitalist structures. The artist imagines climate change as an indiscriminate force that doesn’t see colour either.

Leitī is a new moving image work by Sione Tuívailala Monū. Produced in 2021 which centres on Sione and his friend and collaborator Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau. The film acts as a visual diary, constructed from footage mostly collected over the past year by Sione on his iPhone. Friends, conversation, cooking, dress up, tarot reading, voguing and Manu’s own performances all feature. Inspired by Sione and Manu’s friendship and their shared experiences as fakaleiti or leitīs, a Tongan word to describe the third gender, Leitī explores the importance and power of community, sisterhood and survival.

The opening celebrations will feature a Welcome to Country by Noongar elder Vaughn McGuire, and a special cultural exchange ceremony between Noongar and Fijian Elders.
Love in Bright Landscapes, I don’t see colour  and Leitī are open to the public from 30 July – 10 October 2021.