Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan in ‘Thinking together: Exchanges with the natural world’ at Bundanon Art Museum

4 Mar 2025

Thinking together: Exchanges with the natural world presents major new commissions by Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, and fellow contemporary artists Robert Andrew and Keg de Souza, alongside paintings by the Martu communities of central Western Australia, and video works by Sorawit Sangsataya and Tina Stefanou.

The exhibition explores themes of reciprocity and collaboration between the human and non-human. Each work responds to notions of community, and considers the possibility that new knowledge can only be created through a process of thinking together, via communal making, cooperation between the species and embodying First Nations practices of knowledge sharing. A central pillar of this approach is presented in the large scale collaborative paintings of the Martu communities of central Western Australia, reflecting long histories of creating together that strengthens culture and grounds knowledge in place. These works reflect a complex web of relationships, linking environmental and ritual knowledge, geographic information and ancestral stories, whilst also building strong connections between the artists who come together to paint.

For Thinking together, the Aquilizans will work closely with visitors, schools and local community members to create a major accumulative sculpture and drawing installation exploring the tree as a symbol of habitat and home. In a collaboration with Bundanon, the artists have designed an inclusive and interactive experience, where visitors can contribute to the evolving sculptural installation.

The Shoalhaven landscape made a strong impression upon the artists when they undertook their site visit to Bundanon – as it did upon Arthur and Yvonne Boyd when they visited in the late 1970s – and this new commission reflects an impulse to honour the natural world that is shared. The Aquilizans often address global issues of land clearing and overpopulation, suggesting audiences imagine a different world – one that deeply aligns with the Boyd vision for environmental preservation and regeneration.

The exhibition is on view until 8 June 2025 at Bundanon Art Museum, Illaroo, New South Wales, Australia.

Image: Installation view of Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Reflections/ Habitations, at Bundanon Art Museum, 2025. Photography by Zan Wimberley.