Many hands make light work in Tarnanthi exhibition at Art Gallery
Techniques from different cultures come together in the works of a mother and daughter pair of artists as part of the Tarnanthi: Open Hands exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
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One of the earliest forms of photography meets the world’s oldest living culture in the giant, sea blue images which greet visitors to this year’s Tarnanthi exhibition, Open Hands.
Mother and daughter artists Sonja and Elisa Jane Carmichael have taken the weaving tradition and ocean lifestyle of their North Stradbroke Island home and created a new form of art using cyanotypes.
The blueprint-like process, in which objects are placed on cloth treated with a photosensitive substance and then exposed to light, was pioneered by British botanist Anna Atkins in the 1800s.
“The process of regenerating our Quandamooka weaving came first – this was a way of developing our work and documenting it in a new form,” Sonja said.
“I remember looking at our bags that were made in the 1800s … and asking our grannies if there were any photos, and there weren’t.”
The Carmichaels place objects ranging from their woven bags and baskets to shells, plants and even turtles on the fabric, creating an X-ray like effect.
“We had our family involved … lots of hands holding up the pieces to protect them until we were ready to expose them to the sun,” Sonja said.
Their artwork Yagabili wunjayi (make today) has also been enlarged on banners which hang from the front of the Art Gallery on North Terrace.
“I’ve been to a few exhibitions here before and always seen the most amazing artists who I look up to with their banners out the front,” Elisa said.
“When we got sent the news that our image was going to be up there, we were over the moon.”
Elisa also helped to coin the exhibition title Open Hands through her conversations with Tarnanthi artistic director Nici Cumpston.
“One of the cyanotypes has got language which means ‘hands alive today’ … weaving connects us with the hands of our ancestors,” Elisa said.
Tarnanthi: Open Hands will have an online virtual launch at 6pm on October 15, and is open from October 16 until January 31.
SAWEEKEND ON SATURDAY: REWRITING PHOTOGRAPHY