Occupying Space

Occupying Space considers spatiality in contemporary textile practice. Five artists explore three-dimensionality in a series of fibre-based sculptural installations. The works are assertive and bold in their manipulation of fibre and thread; transformed into dynamic structures of mass and volume.

Georgie Brunmayr comes from a commercial practice designing innovative and technical weave structures under her label, CURIO Practice. Her independent creative practice sees her manipulates flat-woven textiles, expanding into three-dimensional forms. Sonja Carmichael and Elisa Jane Carmichael, descendants of the Ngugi people of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) and Mulgumpin (Moreton Island), are recognised for reviving traditional looped weaving techniques of North Stradbroke Island. Together they collaborate on contemporary installations, objects and sculptures incorporating traditional weaving methods. In Rebecca Diele's practice, weaving, paper and mark-making are worked with as tangible explorations of, and challenges to, systems of structure, order and power. Nadia Hernández works with textiles and installation to articulate the political climate of her home country and her diasporic experience as a Venezuelan woman living in Naarm/Melbourne.

These exhibitors are part of a powerful history of fibre-based knowledge and skill, and together expand the assurance and versatility of textile practice today.

Occupying Space is presented as part of Craft Contemporary 2023 – our annual festival celebrating craft practice today.