1998 | Bachelor of Arts (Visual Art)Canberra School of Art - Australian National UniversityMajor – Sculpture Sub – Major Glass

2001 | Diploma in Multimedia QANTM / Southbank Institute of TAFE, Brisbane

Krishna Nahow-Ryall is an Australian South Sea Islander born in Bowen, Queensland and currently lives in Brisbane, Queensland

Between 1863 and 1904, some 60,000 Pacific Islanders from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia and other western Pacific nations were forcibly takenⁱ (commonly referred to as 'blackbirding’ⁱⁱ) and transported as slaves to Queensland for the exploitation and economic gain of the white farmers, the Australian sugar industry and the State and Federal Australian governments.

Krishna’s maternal ancestors were ‘blackbirded’ from their island homes of Vanualava and Mota Lava, Banks Islands and Tanna Island in Vanuatuand were taken to Ayr to create and maintain sugar cane plantations inQueensland, Australia.

Krishna’s work is contemporary, conceptual, social commentary, narrative installations which represent and interpret the Australian South Sea Islander diaspora within the framework of the white Australian colonialand post-colonial agendas and contexts.

Krishna works with text, multimedia and ephemeral materials; states and matters used interpretatively to represent narratives of transience,displacement, loss, memory, history, psyche, change, Identity, ancestry, PacificIslander Cultural Heritage, genealogy, natural beauty, hybridism, ownership,repatriation and empowerment.

ⁱ Australia South Sea Islander Evatt Foundation report 1991

ⁱⁱThis practice of kidnapping labour wasknown as ‘blackbirding’(‘blackbird’ was another word for slave).
The Call for Recognition HREOC