Taloi Havini

Born 1981 | Arawa
Lives and works Brisbane

By employing a variety of media including photography, video, sculpture, and installation, Taloi Havini explores the history and culture of her birthplace, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. For the 14th Gwangju Biennale, Havini presents Hyena Resounding (Dengung Hyena) 2020, a single-channel video conceived in collaboration with Michael Toisuta. As Taloi and Toisuta were both unable to travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the artists edited and reconstructed archival materials from their respective communities for the project. In the video, Taloi’s footage of the ritual of Buka Island, in which community members witness and celebrate the full moon’s synchronisation with coral spawning, merges with Toisuta’s instrumentation of Indonesian gamelan instruments. By connecting ritualistic traditions across Oceania, the video highlights shared sensibilities across the Asia-Pacific region that are disappearing in the present day.

Taloi Havini, Hyena Resounding (Dengung Hyena) 2020. Single-channel video, colour, sound. 4 mins 27 secs. Courtesy the artist. Installation view, 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023). Image courtesy Gwangju Biennale Foundation. Photo: glimworkers