Chantal Fraser: The Ascended

Chantal Fraser: The Ascended

15 June - 2 September 2023

Since the early 2000s, Sāmoan-Australian artist Chantal Fraser’s feminist anti-colonial art practice has challenged Euro–American art histories that have been spread across the globe. Exploring ritual, adornment and gestures of exchange, her works make use of a vast array of artistic, musical and spiritual sources, from global pop culture to folk and customary practices.

Fraser has worked in sculpture, installation, photography and performance, in both restrained and minimalist or boldly rebellious and maximalist forms. Across both poles, however, the work is wittily multi-layered, celebrating contradictions and condemning essentialism. Most importantly, meaning-making is understood to be a cumulative process, for the artist and for her audience.

Bringing together early and new works, The Ascended explores the aesthetics of power and reflects on the experiences of class-based discrimination. Addressing the myth of Australia as an egalitarian society, Fraser raises up the working-class majority. Using bewitchingly beautiful materials, she shows how adornment can be an optical assault and a defensive tactic against racialised capitalism.

Initiated pre #blacklivesmatter and Covid-19 protests and realised here for the first time, Riot Gear (2015–23) presents a playful armoury stocked with embellished welders’ gear, riot shields and makeshift self-defence equipment. In a powerful demonstration of love, the new five-chapter video The Ascended (2023) bridges the heavenly and earthly realms as Fraser depicts Moana Nui (Pacific Ocean) people as Atua (deities).

Within The Ascended, a community- making space claims part of the museum and offers it free for the use of the public. Interested Sāmoan and community groups are invited to learn more about the program and make bookings the space via reception.

Curator: Naomi Evans

The Ascended crystallises Fraser’s exploration of power and class through her anti-colonial and anti-capitalist strategies, developing a theory that links ornamentation, personal protective devices and protest aesthetics as means to subvert and liberate identities. Fraser’s multimedia practice has garnered significant acclaim within Australian contemporary art and reflects the complexity of lived experiences for diasporic Sāmoan and Pasifika communities. Fraser works across sculpture, installation, video, performance, and photography.

A full colour publication accompanies the exhibition. It includes essays by exhibition curator Naomi Evans and Dr Lana Lopesi (MNZM), commissioned poetry by Brian Fuata and an artist interview by Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Raqs Media Collective).

Purchase the publication

Chantal Fraser: The Ascended tour dates:

NorthSite Contemporary Arts from 11 November 2023 — 20 January 2024

Caboolture Regional Art Gallery from 12 June 2024 — 31 August 2024

Rockhampton Museum of Art from 7 December 2024 - 23 March 2025

Downloadable English exhibition labels

Downloadable Samoan exhibition labels

Samoan spoken audio exhibition labels

Download Education Pack

Chantal Fraser, Fantômas Gold (2023) from the series 'Riot Gear' (2015 - ongoing), welding helmet, rhinestones, glass, 33 x 24 x 25.5cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Louis Lim

Chantal Fraser: The Ascended Publication. 310mm (H) x 210mm (W), 128 pages, paperback. $35.00 Photo: Patrick Lester