Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Know My Name
14 Nov 2020 – 4 Jul 2021
Two Indigenous Australian woman are on Country sitting with their sculptures of small animals woven from native and dyed grasses

Roma Butler and Yangi Yangi Fox, from Irrunytju in Western Australia, with their sculptures, 2017. Photo: Rhett Hammerton

About

A new commission by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. This large-scale installation tells the ancestral story of the Seven Sisters Dreaming, using sculptural forms woven from materials including tjanpi (the Pitjantjatjara word for grass) and raffia.

In the Dreaming story, the seven sisters are pursued across the land by a man called Nyiru, or Nyirunya. He chases the sisters up into the sky and down to earth again, intent on marrying the eldest of the women. Eventually, the sisters are transformed into the constellation of Pleiades and Nyiru assumes the form of Orion.

The Tjanpi Desert Weavers use native grasses to create contemporary fibre art. The artists represent 26 remote communities located on Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) lands in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. A social enterprise of the NPY Women’s Council, the Tjanpi Desert Weavers travel vast distances to weave together, and their work is underpinned by a strong connection to Country, culture and community.

Curator: Kelli Cole

Supported by

Related

First Nations

First Nations work of art detail of painted black hollow logs on display in dark exhibition space

We are committed to equity and social justice for the First Peoples of this continent and that of our global neighbours.

Know My Name Women Artists

Know My Name

A woman is sitting in font of a large wall of many portraits in a large gallery space

Know My Name celebrates the work of all women artists with an aim to enhance understanding of their contribution to Australia’s cultural life.

Major Exhibition

Ethel Carrick

Upcoming
Ethel Carrick, Esquisse en Australie [Sketch in Australia] 1908, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, Purchased 2023

Dec. 7, 2024—April 27, 2025

This major exhibition of the work of British born Ethel Carrick (1872-1952) includes over 100 works from private and public collections.

Feature

Note the quiet achiever

Black and white photograph of The Commonwealth Art Advisory Board c. 1958 Standing left to right: Robert Campbell, Sir Daryl Lindsay, Bill Cumming, Douglas Pratt, Sir William Dargie, Seated: Sir William Ashton (Chairman), Valda Leehy (Secretary) Photo: courtesy Jean Campbell, Canberra

Behind every great museum or gallery director is a quiet and conscientious arts administrator – Valda Leehy MBE.

Read Time: 13 minutes
Feature

As the mind sees it

Joan Mitchell sits on a stool in front of two large painted canvasses

A house in France brought different inspirations to Joan Mitchell and Claude Monet, writes David Greenhalgh.

Read Time: 12 minutes

Micky Allan: A Live-in Show

A photograph of a woman at a kitchen table

Yvette Dal Pozzo explores the significance of Allan’s 1978 Live-in Show and shares how it is being re-imagined in a contemporary context.

Read Time: 37 minutes
Know My Name /  Video

Artists in conversation: Jo Lloyd

Black and White Image of Jo Lloyd dancing

Published 19 November 2020

Contemporary dancer Jo Lloyd discusses her Know My Name performance commission, Archive the archive.

Audio Tour Auslan Interpretation Open Captioning
45 mins
Know My Name /  Video

Know My Name Conference: Keynote Address – Genevieve Grieves

a woman in a bright shirt is smiling and looking at the camera. She is standing in front of a bright painting

Published 22 December 2020

Audio Tour Audio Description
18 mins
Major Exhibition

Anne Dangar

Upcoming

Dec. 7, 2024—April 27, 2025

This major exhibition explores the work of Australian-born Anne Dangar (1885-1951), a pioneering exponent of Cubism in the twentieth century.

Know My Name /  Video

Nora Heysen (1911–2003)

Published 21 December 2022

Video excerpt from the ABC documentary 'The Exhibitionists' on Australian female artist Nora Heysen.

7 minutes