Great Ocean Speaker Series | Pacific Art and Global Conversations with Aunty Sana Balai & Jocelyn Flynn

Join curators Aunty Sana Balai and Jocelyn Flynn for this public lecture on Pacific art and global conversations in the fourth installment of the Great Ocean Speaker Series.

This Speaker Series responds to core teachings in Indigenous Art History in the Australia Pacific Region, inviting leading First Nations and Great Ocean artists and curators to campus to speak to diverse themes in contemporary practice.   

This Speaker Series has been developed in collaboration with Dominique Chen (Senior Lecturer, School of Communication and Arts) as part of UQ Art Museum's ongoing work to engage artists, colleagues and students while the Museum relocates. Audiences are warmly invited to join students for these guest lectures, which will take place across campus in September and October 2026. 

12:30pm, Wednesday 7 October | Viewpoint (UQ Sport) (building 33)

Aunty Sana Balai is a Bougainville Elder born to the Nakaripa clan of Hakö peoples from Buka Island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB), Papua New Guinea. Sana is a distinguished curator, writer and researcher renowned for her transformative work with Pacific, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections. Throughout her career, she has championed ethical and cultural protocols, ensuring respectful engagement with both artifacts and communities. Sana was previously the Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar (in-residence) with the University of Queensland Art Museum. She is working on documenting her family history with the aim and vision to preserve as much of her cultural heritage as possible. 

Jocelyn Flynn is Notsi from Niu Ailan province, Papua Niugini with Anglo-Celtic lineages. Responding to memories, stories and traditions of her heritage, Jocelyn investigates the meeting points of geo-politics, history and culture in contemporary art from the Great Ocean region. She holds a Bachelor of Humanities in Art History from the University of Queensland. She is currently Assistant Curator at UQ Art Museum. 

Image: Aunty Sana Balai and Jocelyn Flynn. Photographer: Claudia Baxter