Jocelyn Flynn is an arts worker, writer and emerging curator. The Curatorial Assistant at University of Queensland Art Museum is of Papua New Guinean and Australian decent and her work is particularly focused around Melanesian and Great Ocean contemporary arts.
Recently, Flynn co-curated Mare Amoris | Sea of Love, a group exhibition that seeks to challenge the colonial boundaries of oceans and their connected waters. The title Mare Amoris works to juxtapose the latin term ‘mare nullius,’ a concept that denies ancestral rights and stewardship of the seas. The exhibition is part of the UN Ocean Decade program, a global framework dedicated to education and research on ocean health and sustainability. You can see Mare Amoris at the University of Queensland Art Gallery in Meanjin, until 20 January 2024.
In this Colour Box Studio interview, Flynn discusses growing up in Port Moresby, her mentors, finding creativity through research and the importance of making room for plural understanding as a curator.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
My name is Jocelyn, I am from Papua New Guinea and Australia, my lineages are to Notsi People of New Ireland Province, and settler lineages in Australia. I am an artsworker, emerging curator and writer based on Jagera and Turrbal Country. I’m specifically interested in Great Ocean contemporary arts and cultural practices, but also specifically Melanesian experiences.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
I started with a dual degree in visual art and finance at Queensland University of Technology that I never completed. Halfway through my degree, I decided to switch degrees to study art history at the University of Queensland. Since late high school I had always really liked writing and reading about art more than I liked making it (although this is still fun).
Photo: Louis Lim
Where did you grow up and how has it influenced your practice?
I grew up in Port Moresby, PNG and then my family moved to Brisbane when I was 9. Growing up in PNG surrounded by proud expressions of culture, family and identity was absolutely grounding in the work I do now. Where family, cultural, knowledge and creative expression are seamless in many Great Ocean cultures, I bring this experience into my work.
Tell us about your past creative projects. What has been your most treasured creation or a highlight so far?
I’ve recently been a co-curator in the exhibition Mare Amoris | Sea of Love currently showing at UQ Art Museum, where I also currently work. This exhibition is the third in a series entitled Blue Assembly that is a long-form exhibition arc investigating narratives of the ocean, and specifically looks at global indigenous/majority world custodianship of ocean spaces. My most treasured moment from this is working with the incredible team at UQ Art Museum from the curatorial team to install, who have been so supportive and inspiring to me as an early career arts worker. An artwork in this exhibition that is a highlight is a video work by Micki Davis, a CHamorru artist based in Los Angeles. The artwork titled Magellan doesn’t live here, is a film following a CHamorru shipbuilder Mario Borja who rebuilds a Sakman (CHamorru canoe) by looking at archival drawings in British Archives. In the film there’s a deep sense of community and pride in their culture that as a viewer is amazing to witness. The artwork simultaneously reframes the history of the Pacific (Portuguese and Spanish navigator Ferdinand Magellan named the Pacific Ocean and paved the way for the Spanish to colonise the Mariana Islands) and celebrating their culture.
Photo: Rhett Hammerton.
Tell us about your current project?
Currently at UQ were working on the next iteration of Blue Assembly which will open in February 2024. Stay tuned for more!
Who or what inspires your practice?
Reading widely inspires my practice and also meeting new people and connecting with new ideas. It is very inspiring to me to connect networks of ideas through different ways and people.
Where do you feel most creative and why?
My practice is research led so I often feel like I get most creative when I read and research widely and talk to people about what I’m learning or connecting with. I have found in my practice the routine of researching and reading allows for more creative moments to pop up in what feels like an unexpected way but is just when my brain processes and makes connecting to things. An inspiring book I’ve read recently is Ellen Van Neerven’s Personal Score, I I’m drawn to the way Ellen weaves big and small ideas.
What do you hope audiences take from your work?
I always hope that audiences look at the world differently or reflect on how their perspective informs the way they walk through life. I feel like the best ‘compliment’ in the work I do is if it leaves people with more questions than before they encounter my work. Many people hold diverse identities of themselves and we need to make room for plural understandings, experiences and viewpoints to shift the status quo.
What gets you through creative challenges or tough industry times?
Knowing that I have strong relationships with people is nourishing in an industry that can be pretty precarious is something that gets me through tough times, and knowing that there is a season for everything if you’re willing to recognise the signs. I’ve worked and been mentored by amazing people who work with integrity and I am forever grateful to them for laying the path for other diverse arts voices to follow. Knowing that I follow their path gets me through the tough times.
What future projects are you looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to seeing new projects come to fruition in meaningful and fruitful ways. I think too I don’t want to rush the process of finishing a project because it is more important to me to build community. Currently I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to read and learn the art history I was never taught at university for other like-minded creatives. I have been thinking about what form this takes so I’m looking forward to giving it some more thought.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
Meanjin-based artist Prita Tina Yeganeh is a wonderful person and artist I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for a little while who explores the traditional craft of Iranian Abrī printing (adapted for the silk medium). Her work is deeply reflective and rooted in cultural care.
Where can we find and follow you online?
You can find me on Instagram at @jocelyn___flynn or www.jocelynflynn.com.