Image left: Sonja Carmichael, gulayi woven with ungaire. Photo Louis Lim. Image right: Kylie Caldwell weaving. Photo Kate Holmes
Bonyi: weaving culture
7th Feb - 24th March (Relational Weaving Weekend 24th + 25th Feb)
Relational Weaving weekend : 24th + 25th Feb -- Curated by Freja Carmichael
Selected works from the 2023: 2023 Bonyi Living Culture exhibition works can be viewed in the gallery from Feb 7th - March 24th. - Curated by Munimba-ja (not pictured above)
Public Workshop ( All welcome)
Saturday 24 February
10am – 1pm.
Ticketed $50 + booking fee - Get tickets here
In this public weaving circle, you will hear from local weavers and their story and experience in regenerating cultural practice of weaving. Working with natural materials, you will learn techniques to weave a small piece. You will also enjoy a feed of Bunya nuts.
Mob Only Workshop ( First Nations only)
Sunday 25th
Starting at: 9:30am -1:30pm.
9:30am start, however drop in at any time.
FREE - Places Limited - Get tickets here
Join a mob weaving and yarning circle lead by local weavers. You are welcome to bring along any current weaving projects you are working on or work with materials available. All experiences welcome to join. You will also enjoy a feed of Bunya nuts.
About the exhibition
Aligning with the Bonyi Season, Bonyi Weaving Culture, celebrates a time of interconnectivity with Country and community by uniting local weaving practices. Weavers, Kabi Kabi Woman Bianca Bond, Quandamooka Woman Sonja Carmichael and Bundjalung Woman Kylie Caldwell come together to lead a weaving and yarning circle. Working with natural materials, you will learn techniques and hear the stories of cultural resilience and regeneration through weaving practices.
Spanning over a weekend in February, coinciding with a time of Ancestral travel, celebration and sacred harvesting, The Bonyi Weaving Culture is a testimony to our axiologies as First Nations’ peoples. As the Saturday is open to all eager to listen and be, in a space held by the strong fibres of matriarchal knowledge, experiences and existence. This workshop is followed by a Mob Only Weaving and sharing day, acknowledging our sacred epistemological circles and reminding us of the importance and safety we feel when sharing amongst our interconnected sovereign Blak/Black beings. This process of sharing knowledge systems using our sacred protocols of being present together, yarning and creating whilst listening, acknowledges our relational arts practices as forever moving, and continuing with us.
As Bonyi Weaving Culture acknowledges the sharing of our weaving practices and our interconnectedness as Blak/Black beings, it is unconfined to any colonial space. However, as our strong Women weavers’ have moved to be present on these lands, in this space together, an alignment of our old peoples’ travels and movements to these sacred Kabi Kabi/ Jinibara lands during this time has highlighted this exhibition's necessity and importance. As the Bonyi Festival also symbolises a time of harvesting and restoration, we too have decided to restore, and regenerate our Bonyi, Living Culture exhibition, featuring photography of the annual Bunya Gathering hosted on Kabi Kabi Country, by Kabi Kabi Elder, Aunty Beverly Hand.
This space speaks to the revitalisation of what is pre existing, the nourishment of what already is, to reform and create by returning to what is foundational. Coexisting in a space that will be filled with matriarchal brilliance, Blak/Black intelligence and the power of Native Women talking, laughing and creating, the Bonyi Living Culture space returns us to what is always central. Restoring our lands and nourishing our Kin and community, so that our Blak/Black joy can be felt entirely in spaces safe for our beings.
The remains from the Bonyi Weaving Culture Relational weekend will be left and intertwined with the current exhibition. Audiences are invited to become a part of this relational artwork, by participating in the weekend, weaving together, sharing in Bonyi feeds and stories told by local weavers, that embody the resilience of our matriarchs. A safe space for Mob and community to unravel alongside the sharing of our sacred weaving knowledges. We invite you to share in this art piece as your presence continues its longevity, as our embodiment together, privileging the embodiment of our matriarchs, moves it back to our foundations - us.