How is Weaving Past, Present, Futures? Elisa Jane Carmichael Masters of Fine Art Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2017 2 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Abstract I am a descendant of the Quandamooka people from Minjerribah and Moorgumpin, North Stradbroke and Moreton Island. I come from a long line of traditional women. I am a descendant of the Ngugi people, one of three clans who are the traditional custodians of Quandamooka, known as Yoolooburrabee – people of the sand and sea. This project explores the potential of applying traditional weaving techniques in creating a con- temporary form of fashion that acknowledges the strength and structure of our weaving practices. In the past, our weaving practices supported our ancestors in daily life and activity. In the present day, its importance re- mains and continues to strengthen into the future. The central aim of this investigation and creative practice is to acknowledge that woven forms of dress from the lands of Australia have existed for tens of thousands of years in the past, at present, and continuing into the future. This informs my desire to develop work that acknowledges intergenerational weaving techniques that fashioned the first forms of Australian textiles and body adornments. The resulting collection of my woven garments is thus both a cultural expression and a polit- ical statement. This paper will conclude with a brief introduction to my contribution to Indigenous Australian Fashion as a practicing Indigenous visual artist. 3 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Keywords Aboriginal dress, Australian fashion, Coiling, Colonisation, Contemporary Art, Cultural appropriation, Cultural heritage, Cultural practices, Indigenous Art, Indigenous fashion, Looping, Indigenous Fibre art, String, Traditional practices, Twining, Visual arts, Weaving 4 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Table of Contents List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Statement of Authorship………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8 Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9 Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 1.2 Methodology………………………………………………………………………...………………………19 Chapter 2 2.1 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………………..23 2.2 Contextual Review…………………………………………………………………………………………37 2.2 Discussion of Practice……………………………………………………………………………………..42 Chapter 3 3.1 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………..51 3.2 Appendix of Research and Creative Practice Events and Exhibitions…………………..………… 54 3.3 Appendix of Exhibitions Researched…………………………………………………………………….58 3.4 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………59 3.5 Interviewees ………………………………………………………………………………………………..62 5 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? List of Figures Figure 1. Knotted looping diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage..………………..…….. 24 Figure 2. Knotted looping diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………………………….24 Figure 3. Knotted looping diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………………………….25 Figure 4. Distribution of knot forms from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………………………....25 Figure 5. Knotted looping diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………………………….25 Figure 6. Diagram of looping techniques from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage……………..…... 25 Figure 7. Diagram of looping techniques from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage…………….…….26 Figure 8. Diagram of looping techniques from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage……………….….26 Figure 9. Knotted and knotless netting diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage.….………26 Figure 10. Looping diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage…..…………………….……….26 Figure 11. Loop-and-twist Diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………..…………….....26 Figure. 12.Knot and loop stitching diagram from West, 2006, Aboriginal String Bags, Nets and Cordage………………..27 Figure 13. Cycle of life, Bronwyn Bancroft. 1987………………………………………………………………..……..…….…..38 Figure 14. Wingreeguu, Shirley Macnamara, 2012……………………………………………………………………….…..… 39 Figure 15. A Woman’s Rite of Passage, Glenda Nicholls, 2015………………………………………………………………..40 Figure 16. Examples of process and materials…………………………………………………………………………………...44 Figure 17. Examples of various techniques of looping, coiling and twining using Yunngaire……………………….……… 45 Figure 18. Madonna Bra, Margaret Rarru, 2006……………………………………………………………………………….…46 Figure 19. Visiting our Quandamooka basket and bag at Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford United Kingdom…………………..47 Figure 20. Gathering Strands, Yunngaire Weavers, Redlands Art Gallery…………………………………………………… 48 Figure 21. Visiting our Quandamooka bags at the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum …………………….49 Figure 22. Gathering Yunggaire on country with my Grandmother and Mother………………………………………………50 6 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Statement of Original Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no mate- rial previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: QUT Verified Signature Date: June 2017 7 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to respectfully acknowledge our Elders of the past, our Elders of the present who shared their stories with me for this project, and our Elders of the future who will continue to share these words. I would like to thank my head supervisor Kathleen Horton of the School of Design, Creative Industries at Queensland University of Technology for her endless help, support and encouragement in guiding me through my research, writing and creative practice on this project over the past two years. Also, my two other project supervisors Kevin O’Brien and Jennifer Craik. Thank you all for allowing me to keep my own voice and for steering me in the right direction for this project. Thank you to my grandmother, mother and my sister for sharing your knowledge with me. I would also like to acknowledge Alethea Beetson, Imelda Miller, Sylvia Cockbourn of Queensland Museum, Diane Moon and Ruth Mcdougal of QAOMGA, Jane Wilcock of University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, the team at Gilimbaa, Tasha Lamb of the Australian Museum and Nicholas Crowe of Pitt Rivers Museum. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family, extended family, work colleagues and friends for providing me with support and continuous encouragement throughout the last two years of my study and creative practice for this project. Without them, this accomplishment would not have been possible. Thank you. Elisa Jane Carmichael 8 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? Preface Oral histories and stories shared with Elders, family and community have framed my research practice. Over the years, I have actively participated in community events and weaving circles on Quandamooka Country where our weaving stories and traditions have been collectively exchanged. In the past, our weaving practices supported our ancestors in daily life and activity. In the present day their importance remains and continues to strengthen into the future. The knowledge and words of our Elders reflect this continuous and cyclical relationship and these insights inform my study. Engaging in these precious accounts and recollections has been an important aspect of my work, and attests to the cultural, historical and spiritual significance of weaving practices. Quandamooka weaver, Aunty Donna Page, expresses the continuing relevance, Weaving is a healing. It’s like I belong to it and it belongs to me. It’s something that even though what has been taken from us…. You know like the language and what ancestors used to do over on Straddie… it’s still like it belongs. As soon as I picked it up and worked with it, it was like, there it is. I love it. It’s a really healing process for me (Page, 2016). Aunty Donna continues to weave with our traditional fibre, Yunggaire (swamp reed), as well as employing different techniques and new materials. As an Elder and Quandamooka community member, she ensures her knowledge and skills are transmitted, I see myself as an Elder, and what’s important to me is that weaving doesn’t belong to one person. It belongs to all and we as Elders, need to pass it down and that’s why it stopped for one generation. From my grandmother to my mother because they were told not to use and speak language and do any of the cultural things that they were taught and what was of our people (Page, 2016). My mother Sonja Carmichael is also a Quandamooka weaver and researcher who actively shares her understandings both within our local community and the broader community. An important aspect of her work is honouring the weaving practices of our ancestors, 9 How is Weaving, Past, Present, Futures? It’s important to reflect on our old practice of our old looped bags made by our ancestors pre- contact which I call - before the burn and then colonisation - the burn and the impact of that on our traditional practices and now in the spirit of regenerating our weaving and reconnecting - after the burn (Carmichael, 2016). The traditional Quandamooka flat bags (the old looped bags