CAIRNS INDIGENOUS ART FAIR (CIAF) 2O25

Vivien Anderson Gallery is pleased to present Clare Jaque Vasquez, Kim Ah Sam, Erica Muriata and Janet Fieldhouse at the 2O25 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair.

Clare Jaque Vasquez will extend her latest installment of work, Skyland, offering a new suite of paintings that explore Sky Country as both an archive and witness. Drawing on her upbringing between Western Sydney and on Country, and informed by her matriarchal lineage, Vasquez presents skyscapes as acts of cultural remembering — gestures of resilience, beauty, and ancestral continuity.

Kim Ah Sam offers a new series of woven sculpture works that explore the connection between Country and the human body. Ah Sam’s self-taught weaving process is intuitive and improvisational, with no preordained pattern. Repurposed materials such as raffia are sourced from zero waste outlets, while emu feathers gesture towards the territorial boundary markings of her Kalkadoon ancestors who have maintained culture since time immemorial.

Alongside these evocative works, sits Erica Muriata’s bold series of woven wire jawun, emblazoned with various warnings. In this direct nod to CIAF’s 2025 theme, ‘Pay Attention’, Muriata prompts spectators to remain vigilant about the social, political, and cultural issues impacting First Nations communities in contemporary times. As an emerging artist, Erica’s work is deeply rooted in her cultural heritage, drawing inspiration from the landscape, traditions, and stories of her ancestors. Her art reflects a strong connection to the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, where she continues to honor and celebrate her community’s artistic practices.

Janet Fieldhouse will present a suite of ceramic hand-built forms, acknowledging  Torres Strait traditions of navigation, living off the sea and the land, and women’s traditional practices such as weaving body adornments for ceremony and scarification.