Sancintya Mohini Simpson and Imelda Miller: The Legacy of Indentured Labour
5 March 2020
6–7pm
IMA Belltower artist Sancintya Mohini Simpson and curator Imelda Miller discuss the parallel practices of South Sea Islander forced labour on sugar-cane farms in Australia and Indian indentured labour in South African ones. They use their archival research and exhibition making to bring to light their ancestral stories and trace their impacts to the present day. Their talk will be followed by First Thursdays with Sancintya Mohini Simpson (Women’s History Month) featuring performances in the courtyard by Joella Warkill, Manisha Anjali, Shivanjani Lal, Sancintya Mohini Simpson, and Isha Ram Das.
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Imelda Miller
Imelda Miller is a curator based in Meanjin/Brisbane. She is interested in increasing awareness of the South Sea Islander labour trade in Queensland’s sugar industry between 1863 and 1904. For over twenty years, she has been working to change the narrative about South Sea Islander history, from a story about past historical events to one intrinsically connected to the Australian South Sea Islander community today. She explores the ways historical objects, photographs, and archives are interwoven with personal narratives to acknowledge community agency, representation, and healing.
Sancintya Mohini Simpson
Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Her work addresses the movement of indentured labourers from India to South Africa during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and, with it, the impact of colonisation on her family. Simpson draws on archives to explore the complexities of migration, memory, and trauma. Her work encompasses painting and video, poetry and performance, developing narratives and rituals to navigate family history and embed wider narratives surrounding the Indian indenture diaspora community.
