Image:
WAH-WAH x Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, 2022,
Australian merino wool as worn by Ramesh.
Stylist Kirsty Barros.
Photo Lexi Laphor.
Courtesy of WAH-WAH Australia.
29th Sep — 3rd Dec 2023
Bennett Gallery
A JamFactory touring exhibition
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design is a major touring exhibition project reflecting on current directions in textile practice through art, design and fashion. Curated by Meryl Ryan in consultation with the JamFactory team, the exhibition presents the work of more than thirty diverse multidisciplinary creatives and includes ten commissioned furniture pieces produced by designers associated with JamFactory.
Textile design today is a vibrant boundary-blurring creative field. By its very nature, it cross-pollinates. Moving through disciplines – graphic, furniture and product design, fashion and the visual arts – it manifests as surface patterning, material experimentation and transfiguration, storytelling and conceptual ideas.
Despite the hardships of recent years, Australian textile-based practices are flourishing. Makers are finding renewed confidence in community-driven interest, co-creation, and inclusivity. Collaborations in the fashion industry are on the increase, forged by creatives such as Romance Was Born, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, Grace Lillian Lee and initiatives such as First Nations Fashion + Design. The skyrocketing visibility within First Nations practices is partly due to the passionate vision of new enterprises and reinforced by the meaningful and covetable textile designs being produced by artists in Top End and remote art centres and collectives. In line with these developments, and urgent sustainability concerns, the artisanal ethos is gaining agency.
Featuring:
Bábbarra Women’s Centre
Frida Las Vegas
Grace Lillian Lee
Hannah Gartside
Ikuntji Artists
Iordanes Spyridon Gogos
Jemima Wyman
Kate Just
Lisa Waup X Verner
Nina Walton
Nixi Killick
Paul McCann
Romance Was Born
The Social Studio X Atong Atem X Romance Was Born
Tiwi Design
Vita Cochran
Wah-Wah Australia.
Curator:
Meryl Ryan
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design is presented as part of the 2023 Benalla Festival—Celebrating our Past, Present, Future
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design is a JamFactory touring exhibition supported by the Visions of Australia touring program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to cultural material for all Australians.
