Arriving on the 20th of May until the 22nd of August: “Woven Together: Undivided We Rise” is a powerful celebration of resilience, community, and cultural continuity, displayed at Cairns Art Gallery. The exhibition honours the trust of exhibiting artists Kim Ah Sam, Clare Jaque Vasquez, Jaeda Lenoy, Erica Muriata, Aunty Rosalind Sailor and Michona Warria, collaborating with Gangulu woman and curator Sabrina-Rose Toby. Together, they share intergenerational stories through the transformative practice of weaving. Bringing together individual weavings alongside a collaborative woven installation, each fibre is a vessel of memory, healing, and strength.
Exhibiting artist and Elder Aunty Rosalind Sailor said that the works echo women’s traditions, such as those of her Yalanji cultural practice, ‘carrying burdens in their baskets until they are taken upstream and renewed by cleansing in the water.’
Commissioned by Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in partnership with the North Australian Festival of Arts and curated by Sabrina-Rose Toby, supporting the voices of the curator and artists, this exhibition collectively offers a space where legacy, connection, and future vision are intricately interlaced.
Michona WARRIA, Unceded 2025, raffia, emu feathers and beads 58 x 48 x 2cm, (detail) © The Artist, Courtesy of Cairns Art Gallery, Photo by Amanda Galea
Clare Jaque Vasquez and Aunty Rosalind Sailor, Woven Together: Undivided We Rise (indicative collaborative installation), 2025, Impasto and woven raffia, Variable dimensions. © The Artists, Courtesy of NIT, Photo by Amanda Galea.
