As a survey of textile artwork, FIBRE does not baulk at the profusion of its themes. The exhibition of loaned and Holmes à Court Collection artworks dives into process, tradition and community, inviting analogies to ‘threads’ of culture. “We talk about social fibre and moral fibre,” begins exhibition manager Laetitia Wilson, “and fibres hold meaning across time and space, whether in an old shirt or the bark of an ancient tree.” With almost 20 Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian artists represented, each work provides a dense, personal testimony encrypted into fibre or thread.
The materials at play provide a sense of locality. Western Australian artist Olga Cironis sourced stiff grey military blankets from Rottnest Island, a former colonial prison. In Deep River, Holly Story steamed Karri branches against wool, where they left ghostly fawn silhouettes. Human hair makes several visceral appearances: felted into a poetry banner by Nalda Searles, woven into mystic cords by Curtis Taylor and shaped into downy cocoons by Anisa Hirte.
Eschewing the bright, machine-spun threads offered at warehouse stores, the artists of FIBRE work with materials grown, harvested and processed in small batches. The exhibition palette is determined by qualities like tannin concentration, hair colour, sun fading, fleece oils and tree sap. “The show has an earthiness and rawness about it,” says Wilson. “Holly Story says that in her art she tries to do what nature does effortlessly, and this is echoed in the other works.”
Work is not bought to tell predetermined histories; rather, collection exhibitions are formed from naturally occurring themes therein. “We found a strong sensibility towards the natural world, but the real surprise was the strength of the community of makers,” Wilson explains. “Fibre and textile practice is booming and that enthusiasm and dialogue is increasingly reflected in the collection.”
FIBRE
Holmes à Court Collection
25 June—20 September
Past meets present in Leyla Steven’s latest exhibition, now showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and co-curated by Artspace. The Australian-Balinese artists adopts a collaborative approach to restitution, scrutinising the systems of conservation and documentation we have inherited.
Developed in 2022 by Artback NT as part of Apmere Mparntwe—the Australian Ceramics Triennale— touring exhibition Clay on Country, showing now at New England Regional Art Museum, showcases the diversity of ceramics in the Central Desert.
About Face is a smart piece of marketing. The new book on portrait painting from Australia and New Zealand has a mission to change buyers’ minds about the field. But as Jane O’Sullivan discovers, any sales pitch wears thin if it’s repeated often enough, and the close attention to how portrait painting is received by the market means that other important conversations fade to the background.
In Anmatyerr artist Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana’s first solo exhibition in Melbourne—which focuses on the Central Desert food source Arnwekety (bush plum)—the influence and love of her Country and culture is palpable. Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana is now showing at Niagara Galleries.
Curated by Lee Kinsella, Stuffed, Bolstered and Upholstered—on now at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery—looks at how woven and fibre objects align with the human form, encompassing the practices of over thirty artists working across textiles, painting, ceramics, sculpture and installation.
With their iconic painted poker machines and installations, notably featured in the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, the Tennant Creek Brio are now taking over Melbourne with a new show at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
