New FORM exhibition highlights the alchemy of Aboriginal fibre art in Australia
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Pandanus Mat, Margaret Djarrbalabal Malibirr, The Alchemists, Photograph by Taryn Hays, Courtesy of FORM.
From ghost net sculpture to body amour, new FORM fibre art survey show The Alchemists draws together diverse contemporary weaving practice from Aboriginal artists and art centres from across Australia.
Opening at The Goods Shed, Claremont on Friday, 4th October, The Alchemists features groundbreaking new artworks by artists from Groote Eylandt to the Mornington Peninsula, exploring a continually evolving artistic practice which remains grounded in a traditional reliance on found or natural materials.
Among them is Telstra NATSIAA award-winning Kieren Karritpul, who translates to canvas the traditional weavings of his mother, grandmother and great grandmother in the Northern Territory, Cairns artist and curator Grace Lillian Lee, who crafts the palm frond weave adornments distinctive of her Torres Strait Islander heritage into fashion; and artists from across Northern Australia who are putting their own spin on transforming the wreckage of plastic fishing nets found washed up on their beaches into art as activism: coiled and plaited into marine animals, some with debris in their stomachs, highlighting the impact of these ghost nets on the environment.
In Victoria, artists are using kelp and possum skin carriers, incorporating feathers from black swans, tawny frogmouths and lorikeets; in the Pilbara, fine bundles of minarri grass collected from Country are wrapped in threads of brightly coloured wool; and in Ramingining in the Top End, senior weavers are collaborating with urban designers, forming homewares like lamp shades styled from traditional woven Yolngu mats.
Curator Sharmila Wood said the Indigenous fibre art of Australia expressed a community of practice unified by the ability of artists to transform raw materials into creative expressions of story and place.
“The works, and their creators, perform a most special mixture of artistry and alchemy,” Ms Wood said. “With The Alchemists, we have a fascinating opportunity to appreciate how contemporary fibre art is shaped by economic and ecological influences, by change and the adoption of new methods and new materials.”
“Connected to women’s knowledge of plant materials and harvesting, fibre art is inextricably linked to seasonal availability of resources, and the transformation of raw materials into dyes, yarn and threads.”
The Alchemists will be opened by the Hon. Ben Wyatt MLA, Treasurer; Minister for Finance; Aboriginal Affairs; Lands and Edgar Basto, BHP Asset President WAIO, at The Goods Shed on Friday, 4th October from 6-8pm.
The exhibition runs until the end of December 2019.
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