In the Wiradjuri language, walan yinaagirbang means strong women. this exhibition features the recent work of eight Indigenous artists who reflect on their identities as women, articulated through materiality, familial connections, and personal and political observations. Masculine objects such as spears, shields and boomerangs dominated early Australian ethnographic and anthropological collections and exhibitions. These collections seemingly confirmed the depiction of a warfare culture, a culture to be feared and avoided. In contrast, less coveted women’s cultural objects and practices, such as intricately detailed and fragile textiles, woven forms and shellwork, were able to be passed down from grandmothers, to mothers, to daughters and so on.
Artists: Amy Tracey, Paris Norton, Lucy Simpson, Tamara Baillie, Nadine Lee, Anna Dowling, Paola Balla, Penny Evans.
Curator: Emily McDaniel.
Walan Yinaagirbang / Strong Women Exhibition 11 -27 January 2017 FIRSTDRAFT Gallery
