Woven Together: Undivided We Rise is a powerful celebration of resilience, community, and cultural continuity. The exhibition honours the trust of exhibiting artists Kim Ah Sam, Clare Jaque Vasquez, Jaeda Lenoy, Erica Muriata, Aunty Rosalind Sailor and Michona Warria, collaborating with Gangulu woman and curator Sabrina-Rose Toby. Together they share intergenerational stories through the transformative practice of weaving. Bringing together individual weavings alongside a collaborative woven installation, each fibre is a vessel of memory, healing, and strength.
Exhibiting artist and Elder Aunty Rosalind Sailor said that the works echo women’s traditions like those from her Yalanji cultural practice, ‘carrying burdens in their baskets until they are taken upstream and renewed by cleansing in the water.’
Through collaborative spirit and deep cultural knowledge, these works weave together past and present, pain and hope.
Commissioned by Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in partnership with the North Australian Festival of Arts, supporting the voices of the curator and artists, this is exhibition collectively offers a space where legacy, connection, and future vision are intricately interlaced.
– Curated by Sabrina-Rose Toby
Woven Together: Undivided We Rise is an Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts (Umbrella) exhibition. It was commissioned by Umbrella in partnership with the North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA). Umbrella and NAFA are thankful for the support of Vivien Anderson Gallery representing Clare Jaque Vasquez, Kim Ah Sam and Erica Muriata, and Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre also representing Erica Muriata.
IMAGE:
Michona WARRIA
Kuku-Yalanji, Waanji, Kalkadoon and Torres Strait Island (Mabuiag Island)
b.1998
Unceded 2025
raffia, emu feathers and beads 58 x 48 x 2cm
Private collection
Photograph: Amanda Galea
The Cairns Art Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, names or voices of deceased persons in photographs, film or text.