tayenebe: Tasmanian Aboriginal women’s fibre work
This exhibition included baskets and kelp carriers made by more than twenty women aged from 7 to 87 years of age, alongside historical pieces and contemporary and historical interpretive material. The exhibition explored links and changes across time, and celebrated the reinvigoration of fibre and kelp work that is unique to Tasmania.
Over a period of three years, more than 25 Tasmanian Aboriginal women journeyed together across the island in a determined process of cultural retrieval.The impetus for the tayenebe project was the desire to reconnect with the cultural craft of Ancestors.
The 37 Tasmanian Aboriginal woven-twined baskets, created during the 1800s from lily, iris, sedges and rushes, that survive in museums internationally, particularly inspired these makers. The exhibition showcased the unique connections that Tasmanian Aboriginal people have with the land and the sea.
This project was the result of various forms of interaction. Individuals and institutions worked together; women worked to teach and re-learn fibre skills, and to learn about the plants once used everyday and the places that grow them.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the National Museum of Australia and Arts Tasmania co-managed the project to ensure that women involved had support and opportunities to express ideas from making to exhibiting to writing and planning future work. The exhibition opened at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery on 4 July 2009 and, with funding from Visitons Australia, toured nationally to the following venues between 2010 and 2012.
National Museum of Australia, Canberra - 25 May 2010 to 25 July 2010
Queensland Museum, Brisbane - 21 August 2010 to 21 November 2010
Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney - 26 March 2011 to 8 May 2011
Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne - 30 August 2011 to 23 October 2011
Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide - 16 December 2011 to 19 February 2012
The tayenebe exhibition tour has now concluded.
Further information about the project is available from the tayenebe website
This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australia Government program supporting touring exhibitions funding assistance for the development and touring of Australia cultural material across Australia.
