Weaving myself into relationship.
Weaving has been an ongoing thread in my creative practice. Working with a variety of fibres, reclaimed or discarded materials, and other found objects of perceived beauty, I explore the slow process of making. Of embodying texture, story, rhythm and relationship with the land and my gathered materials.
Taught by the vivacious and hilarious Tiwi elders when living in their community, I pay homage to this lineage and give thanks to their generosity in sharing something that has accompanied me ever since.
The act of weaving mirrors the ecological patterns that inspire much of my work: interconnection, tension, repair, repetition, pattern.
Woven Together
Repurposed wool sourced from op shops and raffia
For Woven Together, Marisa Taylor, founder of Mycelium Parents, hosted a series of workshops, teaching the ancient art of weaving to parents as they shared heartfelt stories and tended to little children. The parents each made small spiral weavings, some individually, some were picked up and worked on by multiple mamas. Marisa then wove these little pieces together to form the large piece, symbolizing how we come together with our different backgrounds finding ways to mingle, connect and form new shared histories. Woven Together is thus a statement on relearning lost crafts and finding moments of connection in the disjointed modern world to heal the deep losses felt from the fallout of years of parenting from the nuclear model. Together, we imagine, envision and weave together the threads of a new shared culture based on care, compassion and deeply valuing our roles in this season of nurturing little people. Woven Together will continue to grow as more people join the village and contribute their unique weave.
Mycelium Parents is a group of families seeking to recreate the feeling of being surrounded by a whole village. We are working to repair the support structures for families that have slowly been eroded by social isolation and hyper individualism. Our children are our future, and we need support to raise them with the love, care and presence that they need to thrive.
This piece was created as an ode to the Cailleach, the blue-skinned giantess of Scottish folklore who roams the wild landscapes, shaping mountains, rivers and stones with her staff as she travels
The Cailleach is both creator and destroyer, an embodiment of winter, wild weather, and the ancient feminine forces that sculpt the land over time. The Calleach makes mountains with the simple act of dropping stones out of her apron as she travels, digging great valleys out with her staff. When winter approaches she washes her great plaid in the Gulf of Corryvreckan, a whirlpool that swirls under the ocean. When the fabric washes clean, she shakes it out and the first snows fall upon the land.
This work reflects on the mythic relationships between landscape, seasonal changes, ecological knowledge, story, and ancestral memory.
The piece was exhibited as part of Through Our Eyes, curated by Shay Jayawardina.
Community Weaving Project
This woven piece was created through a Darebin Council grant in collaboration with the Darebin Solo Parents by Choice community.
Darebin Solo Parents by Choice is a group of women and non-binary people who have chosen to become solo parents.
Through the project, participants were invited to create small woven pieces and reflect on what community meant to them within their solo parenting journeys
Each piece contribute the larger collective form, reflecting the way support networks are built through many acts of care, listening and solidarity.
The finished piece honours the strength and tenderness within this community, celebrating the ways people come together to create networks of care that help navigate the complexities of being a solo parent by choice.
SunSpells Effigy
I wove the SunSpells effigy as a reflection on the seasonal transition into Biderap, the Wurundjeri season of dry grass and increasing heat. The piece grew from the textures of local grasses, fibres, seasonal flowers and nuts found on walks and meanderings and, the form of the sun and flame to which is was offered. The burning of the piece was an honouring of the shift toward the intensity of summer and the cycles of renewal that fire can bring and incorporated group participation.