Archie Moore is a contemporary Australian artist whose conceptual works, made in a variety of different media, often deal with issues surrounding the effect of European colonisation of Australia on First Nation peoples. Working closely with Tokyo-based curator Emily Wakeling, “MUSSEL,” Moore’s first solo exhibition outside of Australia, is a series of works made especially for a Tokyo debut. It is a project that looks to a little known historical period in which Aboriginal peoples and Japanese immigrants worked alongside each other in the exploitative pearl-diving industry of Broome in Australia’s far north-west. Moore’s works parallel Aboriginal and Japanese cultures to explore their shared historical experiences with immigration, death, and the fleeting value of what was once one of the highest valued commodities of the world.