Court House Building

Philomena Yeatman is a proud Gunggandji woman from Yarrabah, celebrated as a master weaver and cultural custodian. Born in Cairns in 1960, with Gunggandji heritage from her mother’s side and Kuku Yalanji from her father’s, she was raised in the Yarrabah Community, where her deep connection to culture began.

Yeatman initially explored printmaking and jewellery design before fully embracing weaving, ceramics, and painting. She learned traditional knowledge from her grandmother, creating baskets and mats from natural materials like pandanus and cabbage palm, using dyes sourced from her Country. In these large sculptural works, she extends those traditional techniques into contemporary iterations, incorporating new materials and increasing scale into bold installations of suspended forms.

The works of Babim, Muudjum, Djanguul (Grandmother, Mother, Daughter) are suggestive of maternal ties and interconnected womb forms, linked by threads representing the umbilical cord and the sacred transmission of cultural knowledge, tradition, and love. The thread is more than a physical connection; it embodies the way Yeatman’s grandmother shared her weaving practice across generations, continuing a legacy of artistry and cultural strength.

Yeatman’s works draw inspiration from the traditional forms used by her ancestors to carry food from the sea and rainforest, blending cultural heritage with contemporary art contexts in a celebration of the enduring ties that bind individuals and community.

Philomena Yeatman: Babim, Muudjum, Djanguul has been supported through the Cairns RSL Club Artist Fellowship Awards