Join VAULT Magazine and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art on Wednesday 7 December, 6pm-8pm for an in-conversation event to celebrate ‘Bollywouldn't’, a solo exhibition by TextaQueen, who is featured in the latest issue of VAULT (Issue 40).

Held at 4A’s Haymarket gallery, this free event features a discussion between multidisciplinary artist TextaQueen and 4A Artistic Director/CEO Amrit Gill about the concepts behind TextaQueen’s monumental project, Bollywouldn’t, which presents decolonial narratives and the reclamation of power and space by South Asian diaspora.

The talk is facilitated by VAULT Editor Alison Kubler, and will be followed by live readings featuring contributors from the newly-launched Bollywouldn’t book, published to coincide with the 4A show.

TextaQueen: Bollywouldn’t is a 52-page publication commissioned by 4A to accompany the exhibition of the same name, on show at 4A until 18 December. Edited by G.B. Krishnan, the book features writers from the global queer and trans South Asian and Black diaspora: Christopher Kirubi, Nandini Bharrat, Devi Peacock, Shama Khanna, Madhuraa Prakash, Kareem Khubchandani, YSK Prerana, Yalini Dream, Nazmia Jamal, Humaira Saeed, Heena Patel Sabah Choudrey and TextaQueen.

Bollywouldn't is presented by 4A and the Copyright Agency as part of TextaQueen's Copyright Agency Partnerships commission, an annual series to support major commissions for mid-career and established visual artists in partnership with leading cultural organisations around Australia. The event is presented by 4A and media partner VAULT. 

About TextaQueen:

TextaQueen is a multi-genre artist of Goan descent living on unceded Wurundjeri land. Known for using the humble felt-tip marker to create majestic portraiture, their work complicates assumptions around identities at the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, and ability. Their practice envisions an ever-expanding alternate universe of collective and transformative possibility, centring those not often witnessed in states of empowerment.Encompassing drawing, painting, printmaking, video, performance, curating, music, writing, and murals- in collaboration with other displaced and diasporic people- they deliver irreverent satire in enticing colour and detail that disrupts all the "isms" entrenched in the status quo. Texta contemplates dis/connection to cultural and colonial legacies, interrogating the many ways in which they find themselves precariously balanced across ancestral and stolen landsTextaQueen's work has appeared at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Western Exhibitions, Chicago; 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London; and Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Germany, and is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, University of Queensland, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Monash University of Modern Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia and the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. Mural commissions include de Young Museum, San Francisco; Murray Art Museum Albury; City of Moreland; and City of Melbourne. They have undertaken residencies at ACME, London; International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York; and Queensland Art Gallery. A mid-career survey exhibition toured nationally via Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in 2017.TextaQueen is currently developing TheySwarm, a peer-mentorship artist residency for diverse and disabled artists, in their Johnston Street, Collingwood studio on Wurundjeri land.

About VAULT

Produced quarterly, VAULT identifies the pre-eminent artists, designers, collectors and enthusiasts in Australia, New Zealand and beyond. With an enduring interest in fashion, architecture, food, literature and the finest forms of visual expression, VAULT offers a fresh and insightful perspective into the world and mind of the creative. Each issue champions a new sense of appreciation for contemporary creativity and speaks fluently to a community of readers passionate about the arts and corresponding culture.

Visitor Information

We strongly recommend that masks are worn at the gallery during the event. Please bring your own mask; otherwise we can provide you with a disposable mask. Hand sanitisers are available at 4A for your convenience and safety.