From Venice to QAGOMA – we chat to Ellie Buttrose on the journey and resonance of Archie Moore’s kith and kin
Archie Moore’s kith and kin caused waves on the global art scene when it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at La Biennale de Venezia in 2024. The installation work, which maps more than 2400 generations and 65,000 years of connection, charts the interconnectedness of humanity, while also confronting Australia’s colonial legacy. Though shaped by Archie’s unique vision, the artist didn’t shape kith and kin alone. The work was curated by Ellie Buttrose, QAGOMA’s curator of Contemporary Australian Art. Now, kith and kin is on display at QAGOMA until Sunday October 18, 2026. We caught up with Ellie to learn more about the creation of this piece and its significance.
You and Archie Moore made headlines when you won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2024 La Biennale di Venezia with your project, kith and kin at the Australia Pavilion. Naturally, there was a lot of work that went into the endeavour long before the event took place. Can you share any insight into how, when and where the process began?
Archie and I worked together with Katina Davidson, curator of Indigenous Australian Art at QAGOMA through 2020 to 2022 to present his commission Inert State in QAGOMA’s iconic Watermall. That work was a memorial to First Nations people who had died in police custody between 2008 to 2021. A member of the public wrote into the gallery to say how moved they were by the artwork and said it should be shown internationally. So when Creative Australia opened their call for expressions of interest for the Australia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, we picked up on that on that prompt and evolved the project into kith and kin.
Before discussing the winning artwork itself, we’d love to know more about the behind-the-scenes creative process involved in its creation, especially in the beginning stages. How does the relationship between artist and curator work for an undertaking such as this?
When we were shortlisted by Creative Australia as one of five teams for the Australia Pavilion we immediately called architect Kevin O’Brien (Principle, BVN) to ask if he would collaborate on the project, to which he replied ‘Anything for Archie!’. Archie described what he wanted to create, while Kevin sketched the different ways it could be presented and thought about the design the various elements and how this would impact how the audiences experienced the work, and then I asked endless questions about how materials, details and viewing experience related back to the concept and themes in the artwork. The first stage was a very intensive period of refinement making sure that every element of the artwork was making a critical impact and that no single detail distracted from the overall project.
What were some of the themes, topics and messages that you and Archie discussed when first putting thought towards the artwork and its overarching intent?
The completed work confronts Australia’s colonial legacy, the continued over-incarceration of First Nations people and number of deaths in police custody, while also emphasising the common ancestry of humanity and our shared kinship responsibilities – to ourselves and our surroundings.
In what ways did you and Archie feel these messages could be best presented (and communicated most impactfully) and how did that inform how kith and kin took shape?
In Archie’s words, kith and kin is ‘a memorial to everything that has ever lived’. In a single artwork he has managed to capture both the wonders and tragedy of life. Public memorials serve an important civic function as they provide a space for collective remembrance and, through the honouring of the past, ask us to take responsibility for the present. The vast family web shows how we are all kin, yet with this relationship comes responsibility. The artist places the onus is on the audiences to honour their connection to everyone in society, which means taking steps to end the over incarceration of First Nations people that leads to deaths in police custody.
In terms of scale, kith and kin is a massive installation – a meticulously hand-drawn genealogical chart mapping Archie’s First Nations Australian and convict English and Scottish connections that span more than 65,000 years and countless generations, which envelops a reflective pool in the centre, almost like a memorial. Can you tell us about how the dimensional format and use of space serve to enhance or underline the messaging at the heart of kith and kin?
People often tell me they are surprised after seeing the artwork in person – having seen lots of images they thought they understood the artwork, but kith and kin is a bodily experience. The exhibition space has very low lighting, so it takes a while for visitors’ eyes to adjust and after a little time the full scale of the work comes into view. The kinship chart is so high that you stretch backwards to see it climbing into vast reaches of the gallery. The coronial inquests are presented at a low height so you bow before them in reverence. Also the chalk is fragile and will smudge if you touch it. All these things make you aware of your body and how you need to move with care, both in the installation and hopefully beyond the gallery.
Despite its size, the artwork is incredibly rich in small details. In your opinion, what are some of the hidden qualities or under-appreciated creative choices that make kith and kin such an impactful and moving piece of art?
The size of Archie’s handwritten text is very deliberate. It’s so small that you cannot read it when standing at the entrance to the artwork – this entices visitors to enter the space in order to read the details. The lighting is dark so you cannot possibly read the text high on the walls and this creates a sense of the infinite. Also, due to the low lighting the water in the pond looks like glass and reflects the kinship map so it starts to feel like a doubling of the scale of the work. Reflection pools as an architectural motif date back to Persian garden design where they served to reflect the sky or heavens here on earth.
kith and kin is now on at QAGOMA until Sunday October 18, 2026. What do you hope Brisbane audiences take away from their viewing experience?
Ponder why Archie is trying to visualise 65,000 years of kinship alongside the scale of deaths in custody of First Nations people. Take time to reflect on why the artist has chosen to hand draw and celebrate family connection in chalk, and contrast this with stacks of typed bureaucratic documents that document horror. To think about how the past is always present in the here and now.
Finally, what do you think is the most important takeaway from kith and kin’s Golden Lion win? What does this recognition speak to in regards to Australia’s standing on the global art stage and Archie’s own talent, vision and impact on societal and cultural discourse?
Australia has a 65,000 year legacy of great art and it’s wonderful that international art experts are becoming more attentive to the work being produced from here. This significant international recognition will hopefully encourage opportunities for Archie and other Australian artists to do more ambitious projects in Australia and overseas in the future. The outpouring of interest in kith and kin demonstrates that quiet works that prompt challenging conversations are worth investing in.
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Archie Moore’s kith and kin will be presented at QAGOMA until Sunday October 18, 2026. Read more about it here.
This article was written in partnership with our good friends at QAGOMA.