V&A Announces Rising Voices, Major Asia Pacific Contemporary Art Exhibition

The Victoria and Albert Museum will present Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific from 16 May 2026 to 10 January 2027 at its South Kensington site in London. Developed in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, the exhibition brings together more than 70 works by over 40 artists from 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region.

The exhibition draws on more than three decades of QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the long-running exhibition series first established in 1993. Many of the works selected have not previously been shown in the United Kingdom. Spanning sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, weaving and body adornment, the exhibition surveys a wide range of practices across a region that encompasses around 60 per cent of the world’s population.

Arranged across an introduction and three thematic sections, the exhibition considers how artists respond to history, material traditions and systems of belief.

Visitors encounter the exhibition through Kapa Haka (Whero) (2003), a life-sized fibreglass sculpture by New Zealand artist Michael Parekōwhai. Depicting a Māori security guard, the work reflects on the social stereotypes and expectations often projected onto Māori men. Positioned at the entrance to the exhibition, the sculpture establishes a frame for the works that follow, many of which address questions of identity, history and cultural knowledge.

The first section, Re-Visioning History, focuses on artists responding to political histories and moments of conflict. Sri Lankan artist Pala Pothupitiye’s Kalutara Fort (2020–21) reimagines a map of a colonial military fort first constructed by Portuguese occupiers and later controlled by Dutch and British powers.

Also included are works by Brenda Fajardo, Elisabet Kauage, Mathias Kauage and John Siune, whose 1995 work There is still a war going on in Bougainville responds to the Bougainville conflict in Papua New Guinea, a decade-long civil war that lasted from 1988 to 1998. Photography also plays a role in this section, with works by Naomi Hobson and Michael Cook presenting staged and documentary portraits that reflect on lived experience, memory and storytelling.

The second section, Enduring Knowledge, centres practices grounded in ancestral traditions and material knowledge. Works in this part of the exhibition incorporate materials drawn directly from the natural environment, including feathers, bamboo, coconut husk fibre and shell.

Tasmanian Aboriginal artist Lola Greeno presents necklaces made from maireener and abalone shells, while artists Khadim Ali, Saira Wasim, Pushpa Kumari and Nusra Latif Qureshi work within and against the conventions of South Asian miniature painting. Porcelain busts by Chinese-Australian artist Ah Xian are decorated with landscape imagery in cobalt glaze, referencing porcelain traditions developed in Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The final section, Evolving Faith, considers how spirituality and belief continue to shape contemporary art practices across the region. Mongolian artist Nomin Bold’s painting Labyrinth game (2012) adapts elements of Tibetan Buddhist thangka painting to depict the dense urban environment of Ulaanbaatar.

Thai artist Montien Boonma’s sculpture Lotus sound (1992) draws on his experiences at the temple grounds of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. The installation incorporates lotus forms and resonant elements that reference Buddhist symbolism associated with wisdom and enlightenment.

The exhibition concludes with Takahiro Iwasaki’s suspended sculpture Reflection Model (Perfect Bliss) (2010–12), a detailed architectural model made from Japanese cypress. The work mirrors the structure of the Phoenix Hall at Byōdō-in Temple in Kyoto, translating a sacred site into a delicate sculptural form.

Daniel Slater, Director of Exhibitions at the V&A, said the exhibition introduces UK audiences to a wide range of artists rarely seen in the country. “These works have never been seen in the UK before, yet they speak to histories and perspectives that are essential to a fuller understanding of our shared contemporary world,” he said.

Tarun Nagesh, Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art at QAGOMA, said the project reflects the diversity of artistic practices across the region. “Through rich material practices and diverse approaches to art making, the exhibition emphasises how histories, belief systems and social conditions are expressed by artists of the region today,” he said.

Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific will be presented at the Porter Gallery at the V&A South Kensington from 16 May 2026.

Image: Ah Xian, ChinaChina–Bust no. 4, 1998. The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 2000 with funds from The Myer Foundation, a project of the Sidney Myer Centenary Celebration 1899–1999, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. © Ah Xian