WHERE PEOPLE AND COUNTRY BECOME ONE

EXHIBITION OPENING – Tuesday 21 March 2023, 6pm – 8pm

Please RSVP via info@kaielaarts.org.au, 0358219842 or our eventbrite event – CLICK HERE

‘Ancestral stories, spirit, knowledge and histories run deep and intersect across Country, Skies, Rivers, Creeks…everything is connected…this is our Spirit, our Nanyak, our Creation, this is who we are…a timeless dimension, a place where People & Country become one… Yenbenal Woka’.

Launching as part of the 2023 Shepparton Festival, Kaiela Arts’ Autumn exhibition Yenbenal Woka, brings together a collection of new contemporary works and displays reflecting the timelessness of connections between People and Country.

Paying homage to ancestors, showing resilience and proudly displaying ancient knowledge systems in contemporary forms, the exhibition brings together a range of solo and collective displays of new works created by Aboriginal artists and Elders with deep connections to Yorta Yorta country.

The exhibition will feature:

• A solo exhibition by Yorta Yorta artist Brett Wilson on the gallery main wall. This exhibition will feature 18 new paintings that share stories Brett has picked up along his life’s journey – a legacy of his most treasured memories, experiences and knowledge, continuing culture for future generations.
  
  
• A showing of recent experimental practice by Yorta Yorta, Gunditjmara and Wemba Wemba artist Tom Day. This small collection of 8 works reflects expression of country through the lens of spiritual connections and changing seasonality. Tom draws widely on inspirations ranging from the ancient craft of Aboriginal wood burning to Japanese sumi ink drawings and aerosol street art.
  
  
• A collective display of Posca pen art by Tammy-Lee Atkinson, Suzanne Atkinson, Rochelle Patten, Frances Nicholson, Cynthia Hardie, Laurel Robinson, Amy Briggs, Wendy-Sue Atkinson, April Atkinson, Cheryl-Lee Nicholson and many more. Fresh and vibrant colours and designs, bring stories and country to life in this collection of beautiful new works created with Posca pens, a favourite new medium amongst our artists. These works have been created over many months of shared time and yarning in the studio, a place that is not only about art-making but also about nurturing a mutual and empowered sense of wellbeing and purpose.
  
  
• A Freshwater Fashion Retrospective showcasing wearable art pieces from the 2018 and 2019 Yurri Wala Kaiela Collections created by Kaiela Arts artists, Spacecraft Studio and designers Wendy Crowe and Karin Berg. These works are a bold contemporary reference to Yorta Yorta Country, People and Culture and featured in Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair’s Country to Couture, Jakarta Fashion Week and Vogue Online Fashion Trends.
  
  
• A display of experimental ceramics works created by Jack Anselmi, Suzanne Atkinson, Belinda Briggs, Ally Knight and Lyn Thorpe created during a 2022 residency with ceramicist Kirsten Perry. The display will include plaster moulds created from individual handmade pieces and found objects, forms created with a variety of clays, and experimentation with pigments and marbling reflect new directions in our studio practice.

Supported by:
Shepparton Festival, Creative Victoria, IVAIS, Greater Shepparton City Council, JAWUN