Weaving our Future Project 2018

Weaving Our Future project was a two-part ‘weaving art, yarns and and culture’ experience, which included a series of community sculptural weaving workshops, as well as traditional weaving workshops by three visiting Indigenous artists from Arnhem Land.
It was a knowledge exchange experience which explored the overlap between traditional bush food harvesting, fibre and the baskets used to harvest food and fibre, honouring both traditional and contemporary perspectives.
Participants created both artworks and cultural artefacts, in an attempt to revive, revitalise and continue an endangered art form.

The project serves as stage one in a larger vision – the establishment of a local ongoing (intercultural) fibre art group, working towards cultural connection and creative exchange opportunities with remote Indigenous weavers known to Rene Bahloo.

As a result of this project, a partnership has evolved to facilitate cultural sharing weaving weekends bringing together descendants of the stolen generation and remote dwelling traditional woman weavers from both Arnhem Land and Kuranda. Teamed up with Stepping Black and First Food Company, Weavery has already delivered two of these ‘Weaving weekends with Wonderful Women’, bringing the traditional skills and healing power of basket weaving with traditional weavers,to Cherbourg/Bundaberg/Eidsvold Indigenous women, with stupendous results.

This pilot project is now expanding into the creation of a gathering/festival of Indigenous craftswomen, in order to facilitate greater access to this valuable opportunity of cultural sharing, with a wider reach.

It is also hoped that the weaving weekends model can be offered as a service to other Indigenous organisations in the country to allow for the growth of an intercultural sharing movement which brings skills transference, cultural recognition and revitalisation, healing and joy to all involved.

 

“The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and (name of council) to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.”