Weaving is an ancient artform practiced throughout the globe. The styles, purposes and materiality of each woven form is influenced by the locality, the land and Country, of their creators. The artists in Our Stories: Contemporary Indigenous Weaving exemplify the connection of practice to place, demonstrating vastly different responses to the theme of ‘my land’ that reflect the diversity of their individual homelands and culture. From the red dirt of the central desert to the lush green rainforests and seasonal wetlands of Northern Queensland, to the islands and sea Country of the Torres Strait and Minjerribah, each work embodies the unique experiences, histories and stories of that Country. 

Vanessa Cannon employs ceramic as medium to reveal the layers of cultural significance of Kakan (Black Palm Dillybag) as a Kuku Yalanji/Kuku Nyungkul artist. Its role in nourishment and healing and utility is intertwined with the traditional roles and responsibilities Yalanji men and women have in processing the plant and their relationships with each other. 

Sonja Carmichael’s (Ngugi) woven dilly bags, twined from copper wire, are vessels of Quandamooka Country. Symbolising the relationship and interconnectedness of yarabin ragi (beach and bush) the work weaves stories of Ngumpi (home) and ijingen jalo (food and fire) with healing of Country, family connections, and restoration of practice.

Shirley Macnamara (Indjalandji Dhidhanu and Alyawarr) deftly melds materials synonymous with her lived experience on the land, on cattle stations in ‘Spinifex Country’ on the Barkly Tablelands. Her signature spinifex sculptures, emblematic of the resilience of her people and of her Country, accompany intricately woven cowhide over iron-framed chairs in this new installation.

Ivy Minniecon (Kuku Yalanji, Kabi Kabi, Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander) weaves together traditional and contemporary fibres to celebrate the strength of womanhood, adaptation and resilience, and intergenerational healing. Five layers of varying fibre symbolise herself, her two daughters, her mother, and her great grandmother, representing Minniecon’s genealogy and connection to her Mother’s Country.

Paula Savage a Mualgal woman from the Serganilgal clan group of Dabu on Moa Island, and the Kaurareg Nation of Muralag and Kiriri, transports visitors to the foreshores of her home, Moa Island. Her woven forms embody the lively scenes experienced at gath (low tide), invoking the traditional and cultural practices of food gathering and feasting around open fires on the beach.

The sculptural weaves of Philomena Yeatman (Gunggandji and Kuku Yalanji) embody stories of life, connection, and culture in Yarrabah, using the traditional materials of her ancestral heritage. Her work is a powerful assertion of her maternal connections and unbroken connection to Culture.

These contemporary expressions of traditional techniques and forms each enact ancestral knowledges and celebrate enduring or renewed intergenerational practice. Meditations on Country and culture, these vessels of knowledge, containers of connection, honour the women who bind the fabric of families and culture together.