Moving RAG exhibition shares 60,000 years of Quandamooka stories

An entrancing new exhibition expanding on the weaving mastery of mother and daughter artists Sonja Carmichael and Elisa Jane Carmichael will transport visitors back and forth across ancient storytelling from yesterday, today and into the future.

The proud Ngugi women of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) and Moorgumpin (Moreton Island) on Quandamooka Country, are the inaugural artists in residence for the Create Exchange program, with works on show at Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland and Redland Performing Arts Centre from 8 April to 4 June.

Redland City Mayor Jos Mitchell said the collaborative artist-led exhibition, Create Exchange: Ngumpi, was a showcase for new and existing works in various mediums.

“Through mediums such as weaving, print media, and sound, these works are drawing on more than 60,000 years of Quandamooka stories and connection to Country,” Cr Mitchell said.

It features works woven together with ungaire (reeds), driftwood, talwalpin (cotton tree), kowinka mangrove bark-dyed silk fabric, quampi (shellfish), ginyingara (oysters), eurgarie (shells), dunggal (banksia nuts), dagabin (grass tree), string, copper wire and recycled materials, as well as print media.

“Sonja and Elisa’s remarkable pieces centre on ancestral knowledge, matrilineal connections, and ongoing relationships to the lands, plants, and sacred waters of Quandamooka,” Cr Mitchell said.

Speaking as one of the exhibition, Sonja and Elisa said: “In featuring this work, we feel a sense of strength in togetherness.”

Create Exchange: Ngumpi builds on the Carmichaels’ installation that was commissioned for the 2023 Tarrawarra Biennial.

“We are excited to exhibit and expand on this work, which holds many stories connected to Quandamooka, bringing all the strands together from our works in gallery collections across Queensland,” Sonja and Elisa said.

“It shares our stories of lived experiences and how we see Country today. As expressed in the beautiful words of distinguished art curator Hetti Perkins: ‘One rush is strong but bound together they become stronger’.”

Works on show at RAG, Cleveland predominantly tell the story of the importance of ungaire (reeds), which have been gathered on spirited lands of Quandamooka for generations to make gulayi (dillybags). With a particular woven knot, these uniquely designed and woven gulayi are deeply connected to Quandamooka stories.

The works on display at RPAC’s Mezzanine explore the Carmichaels’ deep cultural connections to the seas of Minjerribah. Weavings created using discarded ghost nets and fishing lines reveal the artists’ concerns about caring for and restoring Country and the surrounding reef.

Kerryanne Farrer, Galleries Manager at Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland, said the Create Exchange initiative is a landmark program which supports artist-residency style exhibitions and activations within the Redlands Cultural Precinct.

Create Exchange champions community engagement and looks to the rich history of the area and engages with Quandamooka peoples and artists and has been made possible by a generous philanthropic gift from Haymans Electrical.

RAG is immensely proud to be one of four galleries in Queensland to be chosen for this opportunity with the support of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

“Through this significant injection of funds, we are thrilled to profile Quandamooka artists and to share the story of this place we know as Redlands through the lens of ancient knowledge and contemporary practice of Quandamooka people,” Ms Farrer said.

“We have given the multi-year project an overarching title, Create Exchange, signalling the aim to open and continue a cultural and artistic dialogue.”

Curator and art historian Diane Moon said any lover of textiles who are “appreciative of the world of possibilities for creating useful and beautiful objects through crossing threads” will be enthralled.

“Contemporary gulayi are at the heart of the exhibition Create Exchange: Ngumpi,” Ms Moon said.

“That such a unique form of basketry emanates from our region, and we are witnessing its revaluing as a vital part of Quandamooka cultural renewal, is a source of pride.”

Accompanying Create Exchange: Ngumpi are a series of dynamic programs including a collaborative community artwork, yarning circles, workshops and a making space.

Create Exchange: Ngumpi is proudly supported by Haymans Electrical and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) and Redland City Council.

BOOKING DETAILS

Exhibition on display until Tuesday 4 June, 4pm 2024: Details here

Full workshop and event program: Details here