black seeds

• Main Author: McGregor, Carol
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Art history; theory and criticism; Visual arts; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture; language and history; Brisbane; New Zealand; Queensland; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10072/410067

Research Background The heavily decorated hand-stitched possum skin cloak, titled black seeds (2016), is made of twelve skins ethically sourced from New Zealand. It was first exhibited at Redland Art Gallery in Cleveland, Queensland. It is a regional art gallery with a strong focus on local content. This contemporary cloak draws upon Indigenous traditional knowledges for the making and design of the cloak. The design is based on a map of Maiwar (Brisbane River) with native plants. It was informed by my investigations into the material culture of possum skin cloaks (previously assumed not to have existed in Queensland). Research Contribution The work was the first to use ochres like watercolours in a highly painterly way. It also mapped South East Brisbane positioning native plants according to First Nations’ perspectives based on primary research and consultation with local Indigenous communities. The cloak was the first possum cloak made and exhibited by one artist in an art context in Queensland. Research Significance Black seeds won the local environmental art prize, Redland Art Awards 2016. It was chosen to be included in several subsequent curated art exhibitions, including So Fine: Contemporary Women Artists Making Australian History at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2018) where it was the chosen to be the image on the cover of the catalogue; Tastes like Sunshine, Museum of Brisbane (2017); Seeing Country) Redland Art Gallery (2019). It was acquired by Redland Art Gallery. I was invited to discuss this work on Radio National 8 August 2018. No Full Text