Tammy Kanat is rooted deeply in time. When the Melbourne-based textile artist weaves brightly coloured skeins of wool into mammoth sculptures, she’s channelling old narratives, or “whispers from female archetypes”. Kanat cites the biblical names Miriam, Ruth, Sarah and Esther as inspiration, “not so much to represent these women,” she insists, “but in an attempt to evoke an essence.”

The sculpture she’s dubbed Miriam, the sister who supposedly cast baby Moses afloat on the Nile, “is all blues and greens and has a kind of cradle shape”. Sarah – named for Abraham’s wife who was said to have given birth at age 90 – is bulbous and rosy-hued; while Esther, a queen, is made with regal purples and blues.