Join us for the launch of Somewhat Eternal, a publication documenting artist Justine Youssef's major new installation of the same name. Hear the artist in conversation with curators Stella Rosa McDonald and Patrice Sharkey as they discuss her practice and the multi-sensory installation.

In its final week at the Institute of Modern Art, Somewhat Eternal explores the interconnected impacts of displacement and finds hope in acts of ritual and preservation. The publication expands on Youssef's investigations into relationships to land, dispossession, and enduring beliefs.

Three commissioned texts reflect on the solidarities and postcolonial discourse Youssef's practice engages with. Latoya Rule—a Wiradjuri/Te Ātiawa, takatāpu/queer writer, poet, and campaigner—writes of solidarity between Aboriginal, Lebanese, and Palestinian communities in Australia. Filmmaker and writer Chi Tran considers Youssef’s metaphysical connections to the world as a form of resistance against colonial regimes. Dr Mykaela Saunders—a Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer and editor, teacher, and researcher—bridges the distances implicit in Youssef’s inheritances.

Somewhat Eternal shares affinities, affirms solidarities, and articulates the political and social relations between those whose own distinct lived experiences trace the global outlines of Youssef’s concerns.

Accessibility

We are committed to making the IMA accessible to people of all abilities, their families, and carers, as well as visitors of different ages and different backgrounds.

The gallery entrance is on the ground floor of the Judith Wright Arts Centre, on Berwick Street. There is wheelchair access and an accessible toilet with baby changing facilities also located on the ground floor, and we welcome guide and support dogs.

If you plan to attend this event and have specific support needs we can accommodate, please contact engagement@ima.org.au, call (07) 3252 5750, or ask our friendly staff on-site. Read our access information for visitors here.⁠ ⁠

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Guest Biographies

Justine Youssef is an artist whose site-responsive practice often begins with moments and places that reconfigure authoritative realities. Working with scent, video and installation, her recent exhibitions include With the toughest care, the most economical tenderness at the Hawaii Triennial, O'ahu (2022); A Gateway or a Key at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (2022); and Under the table I learnt how to feed you at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2022). She lives on Dharug Country in Sydney, Australia, where she was a Parramatta Artist Studios resident (2018-21) and a recipient of the Copyright Agency's John Fries Award (2019).

Stella Rosa McDonald is Managing Curator of UTS Gallery & Art Collection. She has initiated a range of exhibitions, commissions, and publications with artists including Cigdem Aydemir, Hannah Brontë, Hossei, Sidney McMahon, Kent Morris, Diana Baker Smith, Grant Stevens, and Leyla Stevens. McDonald's recent curatorial projects include Joel Sherwood Spring: Objects Testify, Hayley Millar Baker: There we were all in one place, and Forensic Architecture: Cloud Studies, co-curated with Eleanor Zeichner. Stella has contributed critical writing, fiction, and poetry to a variety of artist’s projects and publications including Vitamin P3, New Perspectives in Painting (Phaidon), Overland, and Ocula, amongst others.

Patrice Sharkey is Head of Exhibitions and Programs at TarraWarra Museum of Art. Prior to this, she was Artistic Director of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) (2019–23), Director of West Space (2015–18) and Assistant Curator at Monash University Museum of Art (2011–15). Since 2020, she has served as an elected organisational representative on the board of the National Association of the Visual Arts (NAVA). Her most recent curatorial projects include A river that flows both ways: Selected works from the 23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus and Peter Waples-Crowe: PRIDE, co-curated with Dominic Guerrera for Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art. Later this year, she will present Octopus 24: Ricochet at Gertude Contemporary.

Contact the host of Book Launch | Justine Youssef: Somewhat Eternal