Established 2013 in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand

FAFSWAG is a collective of Queer Indigenous arts practitioners and activists who are committed to social change through art and innovation, producing bespoke cultural activation, interdisciplinary arts and community-driven events that are cutting edge, culturally responsive and socially relevant.

The precarious nature of our changing world has seen displaced Indigenous populations struggle with contemporary notions of ‘quality of life’, of which the practical realities are determined almost exclusively by those situated in both figurative and literal centres of inherited intergenerational power and control. The challenges of rethinking and re-centring the needs of communities is a provocation for all artists committed to the task of decolonisation.

It is evident to those of us sheltered by the fringes of society that these contemporary conditions of economic instability, environmental erosion, globalisation and neo-colonialism, continue to separate people in an otherwise globally connected online world – shifting the responsibility of problem-solving and creating tools for survival and healing onto those with the least political and social mobility.

FAFSWAG by virtue of our kaupapa and ethos has defined the Edge as a pressure point for incubation & collaboration, a social conversion point for shared knowledge, collective disobedience and life-giving agency. In approaching the themes of the 22nd Biennial of Sydney, we’re invested in scrutinising the conditions that continue to perpetuate these symptoms of life on the edge. Demonstrating our core principles as a collective and what it can look like when artists are invested in and committed to re-learning re-imagining, and re-creating.

For the 22nd Biennial of Sydney FAFSWAG seeks to generate a cultural centre, positioning our practice of community-building and engagement within a context of occupation, collaborative making, knowledge-sharing, cultural activation, public programming and performance. Presenting new site-specific works that respond directly to the Indigenous people of the land and the wider surrounding communities, this collection of artworks, public programs and performances frames our positionality as artists and activists operating within a global community of Indigenous LGBTQIA+ people.

Jermaine Dean

Born 1993 in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makurau

Motugausoilevasa Falencie Filipo

Born 1989 in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makaurau

Tanu Gago

Born 1983 in Motootua, Samoa Live in Tamaki Makurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand

Tapuaki Helu

Born 1989 in Nukualofa, Tongatapu / Tonga Live and works in Tamaki Makurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand

Nahora Ioane

Born 1994 in Tauhunu, Manihiki enua / Cook Islands Live and works in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand

Hohua Ropate Kurene

Born 1996 in Pariaarua, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and work in Aotearoa

Moe Laga

Born 1991 in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makaurau

Ilalio Loau

Born 1985 in Tamaki Makurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makurau

Timothy Fa’afetai Swann

Born 1980 in Tamaki Makurau, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makurau

Pati Solomona Tyrell

Born 1992 in Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and work in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa

Jaimie Waititi

Born 1990 in Te Whakatōhea, Aotearoa / New Zealand Live and works in Tamaki Makurau, Aotearoa