FEATURE ON PNG BULLETIN: RETURNING HOME EXHIBITION
Written by the Sunday Bulletin, September 23rd 2025
(Summary below)
In a vibrant celebration of Papua New Guinea’s 50th Independence Anniversary, the Returning Home Exhibition launched in Port Moresby brings together young PNG artists living in Australia in a moving display of heritage, identity, and the bonds that stretch across continents. Curated by interdisciplinary artist Grace Hasu Dlabik, the show features works reflecting stories of villages, tradition, and culture reimagined through contemporary forms. Dlabik, who traces her roots to PNG while living in Naarm (Melbourne), says the art seeks to honour “who we are, where we come from, and contemporary versions of how we exist in the world.”
Governor Powes Parkop praised the exhibition for its role in promoting PNG’s diverse cultures and traditions on a global stage, noting that although many of the artists live overseas, their contributions are making local impact. He stressed that art is essential not only to preserve heritage but to shape the nation’s future. Ms. Fazilah Bazari, involved in the city’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, added that art’s ability to express what words cannot, its capacity to unite people at a deeper, sensory level, makes exhibitions like this especially powerful.