In Conversation with Joshua Searle

NEW DATE! (Changed from Thursday 19 November to Tuesday 24 November) Join us on Tuesday 24 November from 2-3pm to hear from Australian-Colombian artist, Joshua Searle, who will discuss his new exhibition, Tasting the Divine, currently on display in our Studio Dax gallery, and his practice generally in conversation with our Gallery Manager, Nathan.

About the artist: Joshua Searle's art practice explores memory, inheritance, and cultural reclamation through painting and sculpture. Working across both public and commercial contexts, he examines the diasporic condition—how identity and belonging are shaped by histories of migration, displacement, and colonisation. Drawing on his Colombian heritage, his works often revisit Pre-Columbian artefacts and museum collections, transforming them into contemporary meditations on power, loss, and the endurance of culture.

About the exhibition: Tasting the Divine presents a series of works by Australian-Colombian artist, Joshua Searle, of toucans eating ripe papaya. Rendered in lush, saturated colour, these foreground the restorative and contemplative dimension of Searle’s practice. The series emerged from Searle’s 2024 Mason Family Trust Fellowship in Colombia, where he retraced his maternal lineage for the first time and undertook a trek to the Lost City in Santa Marta. Within the dense  landscape of the Sierra Nevada, the artist encountered a profound sense of reconnection — to land, ancestry and self. In these paintings, the toucan becomes a bearer of abundance. Its curved beak meets the open fruit in a gesture of sustenance rather than conquest. Through repetition and intimacy of focus, Tasting the Divine invites viewers to slow down and consider the sacred in everyday gestures. The works suggest that belonging is not found through possession, but through relationship — with culture, with community, and with oneself. In this space, divinity is not distant or abstract; it is embedded in colour, in memory, and in the simple act of being sustained.

We hope you can join us for what is sure to be a fascinating and insightful discussion on Tuesday 24 November, 2-3PM.

Event Information: WHEN: Tuesday 24 November, 2-3PM LOCATION: The Dax Centre, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC (Ground floor of the Kenneth Myer Building)

This is a free event. Refreshments will be provided. The gallery is fully accessible, with accessible toilets available.

For information on parking and travelling to the gallery:

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