TBA21-Academy presents Repatriates Collective: Tide of Returns at Ocean Space

Marking the beginning of the 2026 Ocean Space exhibition season, TBA21–Academy presents Tide of Returns, an exhibition based on the artistic research of the Repatriates Collective, initiated by artist Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll and formed of artists from Australia’s Pacific North, South, and West Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Continuing TBA21–Academy’s long-term commitment to fostering critical ocean literacy and intercultural dialogue, Tide of Returns explores cultural repatriation as a living, relational process in which art and water become vehicles for memory, continuity, and reconnection between communities and territories. There is a growing international movement advocating for the repatriation of art taken by colonial powers and subsequently stored in Europe’s museums. Indigenous communities in Australia, Namibia, and many