Joy Angelo Santos is a recent Art History graduate from the University of Sydney. He strongly believes in the power of art to challenge the way we see the world and our place therein. In particular, he has a strong interest in accessibility, religious art, cross-cultural exchange and literature. During his studies, Joy Angelo has been awarded several prizes and scholarships. Most notably, he received the Frank McDonald Memorial Fund, which enabled him to conduct fieldwork in Paris.     

In the past few years, Joy Angelo has worked and volunteered across Sydney’s cultural institutions. Currently, he works as a Gallery Host for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, where he feels privileged to share his passion for the arts with the public. In his spare time, he enjoys various activities such as reading, cooking and drawing. Most recently, he has enjoyed the works of Annie Ernaux and Natalia Ginzburg. He is excited to be a part of the team and to gain new experiences and skills.  

Max Boland is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist, maker and arts worker. He studied at Monash University including spending a semester abroad in Italy with a Focus on Italian Renaissance and Baroque art history. He holds a bachelor's degree with Honours in Fine Arts.  

Max has been studying and working in the Arts sector for the past 10 years across various roles, as a sculpture and install technician, as well as working in audience engagement at the National Gallery of Victoria and developing his own creative practice in sculpture.   

Through these years Max has come to understand the significance of art for community and culture and its ability to foster communication and understanding through expression and storytelling.  

Jayden Gonsalves is a descendant of the Eastern Arrernte and Arabana people from Port Pirie (Nukunu country), South Australia. He is a Music Producer and Audio Engineer by trade, having studied at Collarts in Melbourne where he took his first steps into the arts world. He then moved to Adelaide and began working for the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) as an event supporter, which turned into event programming with the Tarnanthi team and the broader AGSA team.   

Jayden coordinated the 2023 Tarnanthi Festival launch as well as AGSA’s open late ‘First Friday’ program. He is also an electronic producer under the artist name ‘Jay Gonsalves’ and is currently working on a two-sided album. Jayden has an interest in health, more specifically neurology and its overlap with creativity, and a deep appreciation for nature and being outdoors.  

Gillian Jones is the Visitor Experience Coordinator at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) and has a Bachelor of Photography from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University and a Master of Arts and Cultural Management from The University of Melbourne. 

With fifteen years’ experience managing customer service environments in the luxury hotel sector, and five years operational and visitor experience in cultural organisations and the government sector, Gillian is proficient in leading high performing teams. She credits interning at Footscray Community Arts and working for the Museum of Australian Photography and Creative Victoria, with developing her commitment to support meaningful engagement in arts and cultural activities. 

Gillian is dedicated to working on projects that facilitate cross-cultural and inter-generational exchange. MAGNT’s annual major exhibition, the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) exemplifies this and Gillian’s involvement since joining MAGNT in 2020 continues to be a highlight in her career. 

Laura Lewis-Jones is a Tassie girl through and through – born on Tasmania’s picturesque East Coast, she has studied and worked all over the state. She graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art with Honours, majoring in Theatre in 2007 and continued her studies to complete a Master of Contemporary Art in 2009. Her academic focus was on stage-management, directing and acting. 

Laura’s love of performing and Tasmanian history led her to spend a summer on the West Coast of Tasmania, tour guiding on the historic Sarah Island and performing in Australia’s longest running play, The Ship That Never Was. 

Laura landed her dream job as a Visitor Services Officer at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, just over 10 years ago. Her love of art and talking to people made her a perfect fit for this role, and the past 18 months she has been acting in the role of Manager of Visitor Services. 

Leah Pirone (LAH) is a writer and an emerging, multidisciplinary artist born in Perth, Western Australia. After completing a double degree in Fine Art and Visual Culture at Curtin University with High Distinctions in both and receiving the Vice Chancellors Award, she is continuing her work exploring themes of im/balances of power, particularly through a gendered lens. She works at the Art Gallery of Western Australia as a Teaching Artist in the Learning and Creativity Research department contributing to the investigation of how audiences engage and contribute to participatory exhibitions through critical discourse, meaningful engagement, material practices and aesthetic outcomes. 

After recently winning the Painting Award from the City of South Perth’s Emerging Artist Awards (2023), and with exhibitions planned for 2025, LAH works from her studio and uses music, cultural studies and nature as her muse. 

Luisa Randall is a Cultural Mediator and emerging arts educator. She has worked at UQ Art Museum since 2021. During this time, she has conversed with visitors over seven exhibitions and facilitated conversations of critical and intellectual inquiry through art with UQ students. She has also supported the development and delivery of cultural mediation training across Australia. 

Luisa also has a working background in grassroots political campaigning, community organising and activism. She concurrently works in the office of Greens Federal MP Max Chandler-Mather, coordinating mutual aid programs.  

Sanja Zeljko is a Team Leader within the Protection and Visitor Services Department at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Queensland. She has 15 years’ experience in the arts sector spanning across various facets of this renowned visual arts institution, where her contributions have left an indelible mark on a multitude of local and international exhibitions, artist workshops and festivals – all from the vantage point of visitor services and audience engagement.  
  
She is instrumental in forging meaningful connections between the Gallery, the artworks it houses and its visitors. Her in-depth knowledge allows her to provide invaluable insights, ensuring visitors receive superior customer service and are engaged in enriching discussions.  
  
Sanja’s unwavering passion, tireless advocacy, and her deep-rooted connections within the Australian visual arts have been pivotal in cultivating a vibrant, culturally relevant and community-engaged gallery environment by making it accessible, educational and inspiring for all. 

Working in the pavilion has been a rewarding experience that reframed the way I think about my relationship to kith and kin. Responding to the theme of La Biennale, ‘foreigners everywhere’, Archie Moore challenges international visitors to think broadly about the concepts of kinship, family, history and cultural memory. The artist poses an interesting question: what does it mean to be a foreigner in one’s own country? As someone who has spent a lot of time in the space, I observed first-hand the multiple ways people engage with the work and reckon with its broader implications.  
   
Moore’s work uses his own Genealogy as a starting point. Yet, the work isn’t strictly biological. Noticeable is the use of racial epithets, familial nicknames, blank boxes, and other peculiarities. What starts as a personal exploration reveals broader social and historical concerns. Moore’s work is both personal and political, intimate as well as social, simple yet complex about connections and displacement. Captured within this installation is a complex web of kith and kin that makes up the 65,000-year-old history of this continent.   
   
Spending time in this space, I find myself reflecting on my position in relation to the history and First Nation cultures represented in Moore’s work. Against the backdrop of this complex history, Moore’s work allows viewers from diverse cultural backgrounds to contemplate the theme of ‘foreigners everywhere’ and reconsider their own connection to culture, history, kith and kin. More than anything, the work fosters a sense of continuity and a shared cultural dialogue.  

Monumental. The word I offered when prompted to describe kith and kin after stepping into the space for the first time. Over the course of eleven weeks, I would come to think of myself as a caretaker for Moore’s work, conscious of the ebb and flow of energy and curiosity from visitors and extremely protective of the truths it speaks. Many reactions in the space were visceral. I witnessed tears, hands clenched in anguish and heads hung in shame. I saw wonder twinkle in eyes of visitors young and old as they looked up at the constellation of names and words in language above them and I heard heartbreak in voices that sought to understand, including my own.   

kith and kin is a quiet invitation to question individual and international understanding of the lie of terra nullius and the colonisation of unceded land. The work encourages uncomfortable conversations about the historical and contemporary chapters of Australia’s history, the repression of Aboriginal cultures and language and the reality of living in a racist country where there is constant tension between lore and law. It is also a catalyst for exchange, for people to compare and contrast lived experiences, especially other Indigenous peoples with a shared colonial past. Most importantly it provides space to pause and consider the legacy of harm and our humanity.  

On reflection ‘monumental’ is a word I would choose again to describe kith and kin – its impact on myself and so many others was exactly that.   

I had seen photos online, but scale and the sublime in art cannot be mimicked. My first step into kith and kin evoked wonder, awe and overwhelm. Moore’s work, as it infiltrated the floor, walls and ceiling, wrapped itself around me in the comfort of low light and a visceral, tear-filled response to the momentous scale and weighty content was pronounced. 

It turned out that my experience was not unique. Observing similar awe and wonder on thousands of people’s faces daily was an absolute gift. Moore’s generosity set the tone, and the interactive, open-ended nature of Cultural Mediation prompted questions from curious visitors that directly expanded my own learning of Indigenous histories, beyond the confines of what little I was taught by schooling and media. Perhaps though, my biggest learning was from First Nations people from similarly occupied lands who connected with Moore’s work as a shared experience. It offered mixed emotions of collective sorrow and sadness, but also validation and solidarity in a time of reckoning where the uncomfortable histories of capitalism and greed are being laid out and historical amnesia is no longer an option. This discovery was a humble reminder that we are all students in life and art, particularly as a white person living on unceded lands.    

Discussing Moore’s work offered a platform for people everywhere to connect with themselves, each other and the world. To see the power of art and its ability to move people to an experience that reminds us of our common humanity is what keeps me alight, and what makes kith and kin so tremendously important. Not just for Australia, but for the world. 

I was initially overwhelmed by the impact of the artwork. I was surprised by how it affected me emotionally; it engendered a deeper response to the story of Indigenous Australians than I had experienced in a lifetime of living in Australia. I felt a sense of shame and empathy. As the days and weeks progressed the compassion and sorrow that I felt for the hardship that Indigenous Australians have, and are experiencing, grew stronger. I felt a deep sense of pride in being given the opportunity to engage with audiences from around the world and share the power and presence of this work with them.   

The response from visitors to the Australia Pavilion varied widely – some disappointingly dismissive and lacking in compassion – to those who were visibly and physically moved, some to the point of tears. The multitude of visitor reactions helped me to view the artwork from many perspectives, and in some cases open my eyes to the plight of indigenous and oppressed peoples globally.   

kith and kin calls upon the viewer to reflect on the deep history of humanity with compassion, and upon current atrocity masked in the shadow of redaction.   

To be a part of a notable moment in history is a great honour, to be able to contribute to the continuation of my culture is even greater. 

Inhabiting the space of kith and kin evoked quite a visceral feeling to say the least. The sheer effort of this work created an everlasting sense of awe within me no matter how long I spent in the space. The confronting, enlightening and deeply spiritual journey I believe Archie embarked on for this exhibition tethered me to this work in a way that I’ve not experienced outside of my own art. Although this is Archie’s story, I couldn’t help but relate at what I can only describe as a molecular level, for this is the story of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. So, to be able to contextualise this incredible piece and weave what I know about my culture into the explanation was such an amazing privilege. 

Through this I found that Australia’s social and political landscape is virtually invisible to the rest of the world. However, the colonial history became a gateway of connection to those who share a similar history, opening the doors to many insightful conversations that expanded my world view and hopefully conveyed a call to investigate Australia’s First Nations culture. 

Those foreign to Australia took a particular interest in both the state of Australia’s current First Nations’ affairs and the spiritual significance of Country. We all have that connection to the land in one way or another, it’s just a matter of illuminating how we are connected. Archie has created a work that speaks to that in such a multi-layered and sophisticated way that it made it easy for visitors to understand that in both their own lives and in the context of First Nations’ spirituality. 

How long did it take? Often, this would be the first question a visitor would have upon entering the pavilion and laying eyes upon the monumental chalk drawing of Moore’s family tree as it stretches up the walls and into the night sky of the pavilions darkened ceiling. 

In inhabiting kith and kin for many weeks the exhibition slowly reveals more of itself to you – a name on the family tree you haven’t seen before might jump out at you or a document might reveal another hard truth or story to share with visitors. Even the changing of the season and weather altered the atmosphere of the exhibition. Visiting in November evenings meant witnessing the exhibition in darkness, but at a certain time of day lucky visitors could witness sunlight dancing across the family tree on the ceiling reflecting through the window off the Venetian canal below, connecting ancestors through the waters back to country. 

With a predominantly western audience I found a lot of people wanting to understand the data and statistics of the exhibition and the scale of the installation. It was a challenge to try to shift perspectives from ideas of linear time and familial connections to comprehend a more indigenous understanding of the ‘everywhen’. 

Visitors often entered with little knowledge of Australia’s colonial history or current climate. Conversely, I saw First Nations people of other colonised countries identify with the artwork instantaneously. The stories told by this artwork are echoed around the world. 

A visitor once asked me to explain what he was looking at quickly as he was in a rush. There is no quick way to comprehend the exhibition, 65 thousand years of history is a lot to go through. And Archie Moore’s kith and kin takes time. 

Spending 11 weeks immersed in kith and kin within the Australia Pavilion was transformative. Entering this reflective space, engulfed by thousands of names representing over 2,400 generations and 65,000 years of First Nations history, I was deeply moved by the Aboriginal kinship system. The artwork invited visitors to confront Australia’s colonial history while celebrating the resilience and vitality of First Nations dhiiyaan (kinship). 

As a mediator, it was an honour to guide visitors in exploring the profound connection between land and kinship, where all living things, including the land, are interconnected. Visitors expressed emotions through tears, silence, and heartfelt conversations, reflecting a universal yearning to connect. Highlighting Gamilaraay and Bigambul kinship terms felt deeply meaningful, contributing to language revival and fostering understanding. 

Despite the Biennale’s fast pace, kith and kin offered a calm, intentional space for meaningful conversations and introspection. Visitors often found solace in moments of stillness and in an unintentional bow of respect – a gesture embodying acknowledgment, reverence and hope. 

The artwork’s circular understanding of time, its cradling constellations of names, and the interplay between the intimate interior and the sliver of the canal remind us that these histories and lessons extend far beyond the pavilion. 

This powerful experience leaves me proud to have mediated Archie Moore's extraordinary work, fostering connections that transcend borders, celebrating First Nations cultures, and reinforcing our shared kinship responsibilities.