Marking Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s first solo exhibition in Europe, Liquid Land arrives as part of Glasgow International and forms a key commission of the Glasgow 2026 Festival programme. The exhibition resists easy categorisation. Moving between sculpture, installation and architectural intervention, the work operates more as an act of reclamation, rooted in personal and collective histories that stretch across continents.

At the centre of the work is a full-scale recreation of the artist’s ancestral home which sits inside the grand interiors of the Gallery Of Modern Art, a building once owned by tobacco merchant William Cuninghame, whose wealth was tied to colonial trade. The contrast is immediate: a modest structure placed within a space built on exploitation and global systems of inequality.

For Togo-Brisby, the recreated home functions as a vessel for memory, carrying the stories of her Ni-Vanuatu ancestors into a space that historically excluded them. These are narratives that have often gone undocumented, obscured by colonial record-keeping or erased altogether. By situating them here, the artist creates an insistent dialogue between past and present, absence and presence.

Liquid Land draws on the history of ‘blackbirding’, the coercive labour trade that forcibly displaced Pacific Islanders in the 19th century following the abolition of slavery. Its legacies continue to reverberate across the Pacific and beyond and Togo-Brisby’s work traces these transnational connections, linking Australia, the Pacific and Scotland through shared, if often unacknowledged, histories.

The work operates through texture and presence. Materials, forms and spatial relationships become carriers of meaning, inviting visitors to move through the work rather than simply observe it. The effect is immersive and deliberately paced, encouraging reflection rather than reaction.

This attention to space feels particularly significant in the context of GoMA itself. The building’s interiors are recast as part of the narrative. By inserting her own architectural language into this historic setting, Togo-Brisby effectively reshapes the gallery’s frame, turning it into a site of encounter rather than display.

As Glasgow prepares for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the city is positioning itself on a global stage, celebrating culture, community and sporting excellence. The Glasgow 2026 Festival, which runs alongside the Games, also brings together hundreds of events across the city, from large-scale commissions to community-led projects.

Within these programmes, Liquid Land reminds us that global connections are rooted in complex and often uncomfortable pasts. This new work deepens perspectives, offering a more nuanced understanding of what it means to gather, connect and share cultural space.

There’s also a compelling personal nature to the work too. While the themes are expansive, spanning continents and centuries, they are grounded in Togo-Brisby’s own background. The recreated home, in particular, acts as a point of anchoring, making abstract histories tangible. It is an invitation to consider history not as distant or academic, but as lived, inherited and carried forward.

As part of Glasgow International, the exhibition sits within a city known for its engagement with contemporary art. Yet Liquid Land feels likely to leave a distinct mark. Its strength lies in a careful, considered approach, allowing space for stories that have too often been overlooked.

Running at GoMA throughout the summer and into early autumn, the exhibition offers visitors a chance to encounter a different kind of historical narrative. One that doesn’t seek to resolve or simplify, but to hold complexity and contradiction in view. In doing so, Togo-Brisby’s work asks an urgent question: what does it mean to truly see history, and who gets to tell it?

Jasmine Togo-Brisby: Liquid Land, Gallery Of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sunday 6 September.

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