
Erub/Lifou Project
Established 2011 Erub, Darnley Island, Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia, and Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
The Erub/Lifou Project brings together artist groups from two islands: Lifou in New Caledonia, and Erub (Darnley Island) in the eastern Torres Strait. In 1871, a group of English and Kanak missionaries travelled from Lifou to Erub, an event that is remembered and celebrated annually as the ‘Coming of the Light’ — the introduction of Christianity to the Torres Strait. Descendants of the Kanak missionaries travelled to Erub in 2011 to reconnect with the descendants of family members who had settled there, and a return visit was made by the Erubian descendants to Lifou. The artistic collaboration that developed out of this exchange resulted in a group of charcoal drawings, video installations and woven ghost-net works that were exhibited in Australia in 2013. This project brings the two groups of artists together again to create a new set of works exploring their connections.