Yuriyal Bridgeman 'Haus Door' Artist Talk

Please join us at Passage for an artist talk with Yuriyal Bridgeman at 11 am on Saturday, August 3.

Yuriyal Bridgeman is an interdisciplinary artist based between Brisbane, Australia and the Waghi Valley in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. An alumnus of Griffith University Queensland College of Art, his practice spans photography, video, installation, sculpture and painting. Influenced considerably by his tribal connections, Bridgeman founded the arts collective Haus Yuriyal in Papua New Guinea in 2015 and his collaborations with family and community are a key component of his artistic journey. His upcoming exhibitions include the Asia Pacific Triennial of Art and Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, and a survey exhibition and publication with Griffith University Art Museum.

‘Haus Door’ by Yuriyal Bridgeman references spiritual entities and figures in tales of sickness and health prominent in the artist’s homeland in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The exhibition presents a set of three shield paintings from 2020, collectively titled "Crown," which are both portraits and sculptural objects, revealing the dual nature of protection and vulnerability through three urban legends. The shields, or ‘kuman’ in the Yuri language, stand as optical weapons that represent the self, acting as banners of defence against threats to personal safety, relationships, and freedom. The exhibition revisits these works, combining them with Bridgeman’s recent explorations into painting with tape, using this medium to expand his studies of shield paintings into architectural studies that cover the gallery’s walls.