Artist Avi Amesbury has opened her new exhibition, 'Shifting Perspectives: The Self Reconciliation Project', at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery in Australia. The show combines ceramics, mixed media, and sound to explore her personal family history as a descendant of white settler colonists in Western Australia. Over three years, Amesbury traveled across the country for residencies at Fremantle Arts Centre and Central Craft in Alice Springs, collecting wild clays and collaborating with composer MJ from Those Who Ride With Giants to incorporate poems, writings, and landscape sounds into the installation.
The exhibition matters because it addresses the ongoing impact of settler colonialism on First Nations peoples in Australia through a deeply personal artistic lens. By publicly reckoning with her own family's history, Amesbury invites viewers to reflect on their own connections to this shared past. The show also marks a milestone as her first solo exhibition in a regional gallery, highlighting the importance of regional art spaces in fostering community dialogue about national history and reconciliation.