Main Gallery 4 - 28 August 2021
Jenni Kemarre Martiniello – Gather
As a contemporary urban based Australian Aboriginal (Arrernte) glass artist, my aim is produce a body of traditionally inspired works that will pay tribute to our traditional weavers, and provide recognition for these ancient cultural practices through the contemporary medium of glass within the aesthetics of both. I have concentrated on the incredibly beautiful forms of traditional woven eel traps, fish traps and baskets, fish scoops, sieves, scoops and dillibags of our peoples, seeking to evoke the interplay of light and form found in those objects, and in so doing, create contemporary glass works which are also objects of cultural as well as artistic significance. The complex single, double and triple canes I create for these hot blown glass works admit an interplay of form and light that is very evocative of the light and form seen in traditional woven works, while overlays of transparent colours over opaques allow me to experiment with the various colour transitions of Australian native plant fibres used for weaving throughout their lifespans, from just harvested to aged. In these works I pay tribute to the oldest living weaving practices in the world. They signify the continuity of heritage, place, peoples, community and our collective cultural identity. They mark the passage of knowledge between generations and the continuity of cultural practices since the beginning of living memory and reiterate the critical role our shared environment plays in sustainability and survival.
