The land ✿ Caring through making

Anne Nginyangka Thompson on NPY lands

Issue 35 is the second in a series, Together Spaces, reflecting the contexts where we assemble. Making spaces to come together is critical to meet the key challenges of our time.

In this issue, we come together as custodians of the land we share. This shared identity draws especially on the learnings of First Nation peoples and the relationship to Country, an Australian value that resonates with Indigenous concepts elsewhere, such as Māori whenua or Pachamama for the Quechua. The stories in this issue demonstrate a nexus between making and caring for the land. Using what nature provides brings us into a reciprocal relationship: caring for the environment that provides us with materials to tell our stories.

The guest editor for this issue is Angie Martin.

This issue brings together stories about crafts that have been made from the land and inspired by the land. For me personally, as an Aboriginal person, the significance of the land resonates deeply with me. It is not only a source of sustenance, nourishment and healing, but a sacred repository of my ancestors’ spirits.

Thanks to Ernabella Arts, ANKA Arts, Nubuke Foundation Ghana, Australia Galleries, Craft Design Canberra, East Gippsland Gallery, Artesol Brazil, Craft History Workshop, Gary Wornell and Sachiko Matsuyama.

On Country

• Nation Building practices in an on-going colonial era by Jules and Jayne Christian
• Wayne Martin Maranganji ✿ Painting culture, painting country by Angie Martin
• Anne Nginyangka Thompson ✿ My favourite place out bush by Anne Nginyangka Thompson
• Long dance to home by Dominic White
• Toro Atua: Sentinels for living well on the land by Areta Wilkinson
• Bonyi ✿ A seasonal gathering of weavers on Country by Freja Carmichael
• Syd Bruce Shortjoe & Bernard Singleton ✿ Men of Country by Jack Wilkie-Jans
• Russell “Wossy” Davey ✿ Carving stories, protecting Country

Visiting Country

• The Kalange ✿ Local knowledge created from recycled denim and clay by Katesi Jacqueline Kalange
• Walking light: A bush journey suspended in glass by Holly Grace
• FLOAT ✿ Lakeside with an arts residency on water, a feral MBA and a float-keeper by Andrea Lane, Isaac Carne
• Upside-Down. The land is the limit to the sky by Salome Katamadze
• Cerdeira: An artist village of stone and wood by Tatiana Simões
• Parched: An artist research residency about drought in regional Victoria by Jacqueline Millner
• The Useum of the white desert: A showcase of Kutchi crafts by Aashka Jadeja
• The Dreamhome paradox by Inga Walton

With Country

• Bamboo looms and floating fibers: How Nepali weavers manage their environment by Viola Bordon
• The Purun Project: Fashion offers hope for peatland communities by Myra Suraryo
• Chitral shu: Resisting climate change by Adil Iqbal
• Alpaca shawls: A love woven from life on land by Louiseann Zahra
• Bamboo bridges: Firman Djamil’s Seni Lingkungan by Caitlin Hughes
• The piaçava revival: Afro-indigenous crafts save a local tree species by Egnaldo Rocha da Silva
• Between the quarry and paradise: Grafting rubbish onto nature by Lauren Downton
• Japanese knotweed with a silver lining by Maxwell Fertik

Honouring Country

• making jewellery for the land by Melinda Young
• Kokrobitey ✿ Ghanaian paradise regained by Renée C. Neblett
• Forest of Craft ✿ A map of nature’s treasures by Robin Hoshino
• Hortus Malabaricus — How the Garden of Malabar Travelled the World by Rachna Shetty
• Essence of Non-Japanese Art: Attitudes to Nature in Japanese Gardens & Ikebana by Shoso Shimbo
• Rakiura, Tamatea Dusky Sound and Tini Heke Snares Islands by Lucy Hammonds
• Creative Conservation: Art for nature by Sonia Frimmel
• The world at our feet: Shoemakers of Dehradun  by LOkesh Ghai
• Phoenix: A forest reborn in jewellery by Bahareh Zaman

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Thancoupie “wattle flower” (1937-2011) an Australian sculptural artist, educator, linguist and elder of the Thainakuith people in Weipa, in the Western Cape York area of far north Queensland.