artforms:
Weaving

science engagements:
Indigenous Knowledge Systems

project description:

Margaret Sellers has been weaving her unique carrier bags for almost half a century. This ancient matrilineal craft is an enduring component of the rich cultural history of her people.

Margaret's weavings reference two very different styles from distinct language groups in the region. She transverses through 'time and place' drawing upon her father's Northern Kannju heritage and the classic traditions of her mother's Wik Mungkan legacy.

Through a context of interwoven themes inhabiting both the personal and wider political landscape, Margaret reveals the journey of her people from classical society through to contemporary Australian life

Through the great oral tradition of her people, Margaret interweaves her story of life in Cape York with some of the intergenerational teachings of her people. This very public experience hints towards the interconnectedness of her people within coherent landscape that resonates throughout the work.

Margaret harnesses customary and English languages to reveal threads of her life that she skilfully weaves into a multi-themed discourse that transverses between the classical tradition of aboriginal and contemporary western science.

Margaret's work can primarily be read as a conversation amongst her own people. Past generations and peers share ownership of this legacy to the new generations. Margaret encourages family members to participate in the telling Margaret's stories.

But it is also an opening up of dialogue amongst a wider community whom she seeks to share her story with. This engagement and the interest it will generate will enrich the culture of all Australians and puts particular focus on the culture of the region and the state.

It is as much an educational tool as cultural artefact. It speaks of issues of cultural retention and transmition in the digital age and the 'new' science needed to achieve this. Margaret seeks out partnerships with the youth of Coen through the local state school to develop projects that support this project and the maintenance and transmition of culture.

Some sensitive subject matter lies imbedded within the context of this narrative that is at times confronting and distressing. Margaret weaves the journey her people are currently embarking on and the factors that have impacted and shaped their lives, as she attempts to deal with the issues affecting her people. In doing so she offers an insight into what it means to be a community how a people can move from a current state of crisis towards a successful future.

Throughout history artists have sought to 'make sense of' the human condition and the wider political context they live within. As Margaret embarks on this journey of communicating memory she also seeks to engage in this.

As the project develops and the material starts to take shape, ways and means of reading the information will then be defined. The broader purpose of this material is to collect and develop material for a production translated through both the digital and the print.

This will include a digital format that 'maps out the narrative' and allows the sounds and movements of the dialogue to flow and connect. It will also be harnessed for a print format that offers a textual solidity and architectural form.

A body of work of Margaret Sellars that explores the history of her family through her personal story and by using her traditional weaving practice as a metaphor. Her story begins at birth on Rokeby Station in Cape York and follows her through the many places in the region her and her people have lived and worked in.

This documents half a century of experience of Kaanju and Wik Mungkan members living and working on cattle stations in the region. It traces the linkages between traditional and contemporary practices, land and industry and family and community history in regards to the experiences of people collated into a book and CD-Rom.