FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 30 September 2025, Perth, Western Australia
Indian Ocean Craft Triennial Announces Curatorium and Craft Co-Lab
Exceptional Gathering of International Curators in Perth
For the first time, an international Curatorium (panel of curators) from across the Indian Ocean Region will come together in Perth this November to shape the theme of the next Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (IOTA27).
Representing diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, this unprecedented assembly brings global perspectives into direct dialogue with Western Australia.
The Curatorium comprises 9 members from India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia who will play a key role in artist selection, curatorial dialogue, and the development of new frameworks for cultural presentation.
Local arts industry and interested audiences will be invited to hear from the Curatorium at a one-day Craft Co-Lab in Perth on Tuesday 4 November – a program of panel discussions to hear curators share insights from across the region. Conversations will tackle urgent and compelling themes: the role of craft in the digital era, the importance of ancestry in contemporary practice, craft as a relational force, and ways contemporary makers are disrupting inherited categories to imagine new, fluid cultural futures.
This landmark moment signals Perth’s growing role as a hub for intercultural craft exchange and positions the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial, informally known as IOTA, as a bold, globally connected platform for contemporary craft.
IOTA27 Curatorium
Sharmila Wood and Jimmy Ogonga join the panel:
- Sharmila Wood, Australia (convening curator)
- Jimmy Ogonga, Kenya
- Kallol Datta, India
- Shaleen Wadhwana, India
- Ignatia Nilu, Indonesia
- Catriona Maddocks, Malaysia
- Nim Niyomsin, Thailand
- Miranda Johnson, Australia
- Zali Morgan, Australia
See Curator biographies below.
Carola Akindele-Obe, IOTA Executive Director, says: “This is an exceptional gathering in Perth of curators from so many parts of the Indian Ocean Region. It’s an unprecedented opportunity for WA’s cultural industries to connect directly with international peers, build lasting relationships, and learn from a wide range of curatorial approaches to craft.”
Jude van der Merwe, IOTA Curatorial Chair, adds: “The Curatorium brings together remarkable expertise and cultural perspectives. Their visit creates a rare moment of intercultural exchange — not only shaping IOTA27 but also enriching how we understand the role of craft across borders today.”
The IOTA Curatorium is proudly supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Centre for Australia-India Relations and the ASEAN–Australia Centre, the Western Australian Government, the IOTA Ambassadors, Forrest Research Foundation, founding partner Curtin University and major exhibition partners: Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, John Curtin Gallery, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, PICA: Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, and Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre.
See Curator biographies below.
About the Curators
SHARMILA WOOD (Boorloo /Perth, Australia)
Sharmila Wood is the Convening Curator for the IOTA Curatorium. She is an Independent Curator whose work explores the intersections of social change and art through relational, interdisciplinary projects. Her exhibition Actions for the Earth: Art, Care and Ecology, produced by Independent Curators International has been touring the United States since 2023. Sharmila’s practice is shaped by hybridity, and her curatorial work moves between systems design, public art, cultural strategy, architecture, and publishing. She holds a Master of Art History and Curatorship (with Distinction) from the University of Sydney and is currently the Director of a multidisciplinary creative studio and consultancy in Western Australia.
Read Sharmila’s CV.
JIMMY OGONGA (Nairobi, Kenya)
Jimmy Ogonga is an artist, producer and Curator, working intermittently between art production and curatorial practice. Ogonga is the founder & lead at Kurabu projects, practice-focused observatory for art, culture and society, working collaboratively with a range of practitioners and institutions to develop significant multi-disciplinary projects that serve as catalyst for thought, catharsis and social transformation. Ogonga has curated projects including Amnesia (Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cairo, Dakar, Brussels, 2009-2012), Addis Ababa Foto Festival (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2012 & 2014), Beyond the Desert, (DARB 1718, Cairo, Egypt 2015) and Exercises in conversation (Pavilion of Kenya, Biennale di Venezia, 2022). Ogonga is an alumni Rijks Akademy van Beldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Read Jimmy’s CV.
KALLOL DATA (Kolkata, India)
Kallol Datta is an artist-curator and researcher based in Kolkata. A cornerstone of their work is extensive creative research in clothing practices, native to SWANA, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Their practice reflects upon reconstructing and restructuring memory, episodic events, and history, to negotiate larger questions of ideas revolving around research as production. Their artistic and curatorial projects are driven by community, acts of resistance against structural inequalities, shared processes of healing, and radical ways of knowledge building. Kallol was the curator of the inaugural edition of Kolkata Queer Arts Month 2023 and was a member of the curatorial team at the State of Fashion (STOF) Biennale 2024, Arnhem, Netherlands. They are currently on the Creative Advisory Council for the STOF Biennale, 2026.
MIRANDA JOHNSON (Boorloo/Perth, Western Australia)
Miranda Johnson is a curator, writer and arts manager. She is currently Public Programs & Studio Manager at PICA and Curator for SPACED. She has a background in developing socially engaged projects across institutions and artist-run spaces. She was previously Chair and founding member of Cool Change (2018-21), and director of Moana Project Space (2017-19), both artist-run initiatives. Miranda graduated from Goldsmiths University, London with a Masters with Distinction in Contemporary Art Theory in 2015.
Read Miranda’s CV. Photo: Rebecca Mansell
ZALI MORGAN (Boorloo/Perth, Western Australia)
Zali Morgan is a Noongar woman with ancestral connections to Whadjuk, Balladong, and Wilman Boodjar. She was born and raised near Wooditchup on Wardandi Boodjar and is now based near Boorloo. Zali has a passion for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and artists. With a keen interest in decolonising practices, she has worked closely with private and institutional collections. She is the Noongar Residency Curator at Goolugatup Heathcote and is the 2025 Revealed Curator at PICA.
Read Zali’s CV. Photo: Matty Loucas
SHALEEN WADHWANA (New Delhi, India)
Shaleen Wadhwana is an independent arts educator, researcher, and curator bringing audiences closer to South Asian history, art, heritage, and culture. Her academic research for The Unfiltered History Tour at The British Museum London won 12 awards at the Cannes Lions Festival, France – a first for India. Her curatorial practice focuses on contemporary art addressing intersectional social differences of, and in, South Asia. In 2023, she curated the 60th-anniversary exhibition of Chemould Prescott Road featuring 35+ artists and deep research of 15,000+ archival items. She curates public programs for India Art Fair, is the South Asia Advisor for KADIST and is the co-creator of the IMMERSE artist and curator residency.
Thank you to our India Advisory Group who helped select the MAITRI project curators: Ami Shroff, Hema Singh Rance, Manjari Nirula, Roopa Mehta, Sundeep Bhandari, and Uthra Rajgopal.
NIM NIYOMSIN (Bangkok, Thailand)
Nim Niyomsin is an independent curator based in Bangkok. She received a Master of History of Art from Birkbeck and enrolled in a curatorial course at the Central Saint Martins, London. She specialises in contemporary Southeast Asian art and ceramics. She has been working as a curator for many arts institutions in Thailand, Singapore, and UK. She recently co-authored a monograph book, Wasinburee: An Exploration into Ceramic Possibilities.
Read Nim’s CV. Photo: L Officiel
IGNATIA NILU (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Nilu is a curator, researcher, and cultural producer specialising in the intersections of craft, contemporary art, and material culture. Their work explores the contradictions between past and future, indigenous and modern, craftsmanship and automation—emphasising how art remains deeply tied to community craftsmanship. A curator for ARTJOG since 2015, Nilu engages in traditional knowledge with contemporary innovation, advocating for craft’s revitalisation in the Indian Ocean region and beyond.
CATRIONA MADDOCKS (Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia)
Catriona is an artist, curator and researcher, originally from the U.K. and based in Sarawak, Malaysia for over fifteen years. Engaged in an array of diverse projects, her work focuses on the exploration of identity, community narratives and cultural heritage within a contemporary context. With a cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach she seeks to encourage dialogue and questioning of assumed narratives.
Read Catriona’s CV. Photo: Kit Chan