ADELAIDE.- ACE is presenting Shared Skin, an international group exhibition curated by Rayleen Forester, exhibiting 15 February – 12 April 2025.

As part of the 2025 Adelaide Festival Shared Skin explores the complexities of family, kinship systems, and identity. Bringing together internationally recognised contemporary artists from First Nations and diasporic cultural backgrounds, the exhibition reflects on familial relationships through sculpture, installation, video, and performance. Shared Skin presents new commissions and existing works from Hana Pera Aoake (NZ), Atong Atem (AU), Jacob Boehme, KTB + the Narungga Family Choir (AU), Juanella Donovan (AU), Jared Flitcroft (NZ), Jumana Manna (GER), Tuan Andrew Nguyen (USA), Bhenji Ra (AU), Steven Rhall (AU), Marikit Santiago (AU), and Jennifer Tee (NL).

Shared Skin investigates how relationships and family are defined through gender, class, sexuality, and cultural identity. The exhibition offers a layered exploration of familial bonds, focusing on their intersection with land, society, and history. The artists reflect on these connections, highlighting the complex ways family is shaped by culture, identity, and community.

Each artist in Shared Skin, explores the concept of identity and family in deeply personal and culturally resonant ways. Through diverse mediums and approaches, the exhibition invites visitors to consider the varying forms and definitions of family, whether biological, chosen, or community-based. These works challenge traditional perceptions, offering new narratives on belonging, inheritance, and the impact of shifting global identities.

Curator of Shared Skin, Rayleen Forester, says “Shared Skin is an important offering that highlights our interconnectedness and reveals our humanity. Collectively these artworks and performances communicate that the family unit is a pliable form relating not only to our kin or ancestry but to landscapes, cultures and the cosmos. For this exhibition we have welcomed collaborations between elders, parents and children proposing that intergenerational learning and sharing can shape our future thinking.”

Shared Skin offers a space for reflection on the evolving dynamics of family in a contemporary, interconnected world. The exhibition amplifies voices from diverse cultural contexts, highlighting the ongoing dialogue between history, culture, and the personal.