Creative Resilience

Creative_Resilience_Unveiled:_Behind_the_scenes

Creative Resilience stands 4.6 metres tall and depicts a First Nations woman’s arm holding a woven basket, a powerful pose celebrating and commemorating First Nations women artists and craftspeople.

The work symbolises the strength and creativity of First Nations women of South Eastern Australia who have supported and nurtured families and communities through culture over tens of thousands of years.

The Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini (NGKM) artist at the Queen Victoria Women's Centre. — At the Queen Victoria Women's Centre, NGKM artists: Front row sitting L-R: Glenda Nicholls and Georgia MacGuire. Back row sitting L-R: Lorraine Brigdale, Trina Oogjes-Dalton, Janet Bromley and Annie Brigdale.

The artwork was created by six members of Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini, a collective of First Peoples women and non-binary artists from across Victoria. Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini means Mother Aunty Sister Daughter and the six artists behind Creative Resilience are Annie Brigdale, Lorraine Brigdale, Janet Bromley, Trina Dalton-Oogjes, Georgia MacGuire and Glenda Nicholls, with support from a cultural reference group led by Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Di Kerr.

The arm lifting the basket is a gesture of celebration - the proud end moment of a basket weaver’s creative process. The woven basket holds important meaning in First Nations cultural practice, with each of the artists having traditional and modern weaving in their background and artistic practice.

The basket was initially made of Victorian grasses with a few rows woven by each of the six artists. It began as a 10cm high model which was scaled up to size in Cemlite, a lightweight concrete-based material, coated in copper.

The arm was created from a forearm cast of one of the artists and built to size in Cemlite. It stands tall at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre and features a QR code that links to audio stories from the artists.

Artist Janet Bromley says the focus of the Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini collective has always been on “honouring all of our women, because all of our women have struggled. We acknowledge really strongly the women who came before us, who made us what we are. We hope (with this work) we are giving to women who come along after this.”

Artists: Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini collective, Annie Brigdale, Lorraine Brigdale, Janet Bromley, Trina Dalton-Oogjes, Georgia MacGuire and Glenda Nicholls, with a cultural reference group led by Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Di Kerr.

Location: Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, 210 Lonsdale St, Melbourne.

Photo credits: Queen Victoria Women’s Centre.

Find out more about the artwork and hear from the Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini collective by visiting: https://www.qvwc.org.au/creative-resilience

Two images. Left image is a sketch of the scuplture with the different components - hand, forearm, bracelets, ochre marking, basket - marked out. Right image is a painted model of how the sculpture is planned to look when finished. — The sculpture began as a sketch, then a painted model was created by the Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini collective.

Artisans at the Aeroplane Workshop with the moulds of the giant hand in two parts. — Artisans at Jamie Ferguson's Aeroplane Workshop with the two moulds that form the giant hand.

The steel scaffolding is welded into place in the wrist by an artisan at Aeroplane Workshop. — The welding torch flares in cyan, pink and yellow as an Aeroplane Workshop artisan welds the internal structure of the sculpture's forearm.

The basket component of the sculpture in progress at Aeroplane Workshop. — The basket component in progress at Aeroplane Workshop.

An artisan at Aeroplane Workshop has climbed up a ladder to work the hand of the sculpture. — So tall it nearly touches the ceiling, the artisans climb up ladders to work on the sculpture at Aeroplane Workshop.

Creative Resilience artwork. A sculpture of a forearm and hand holding a basket. — Creative Resilience: the finished artwork in position on Lonsdale Street outside the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre.

The Women's Public Art Program complements the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, which celebrates women's outstanding leadership and contributions to life in Victoria.

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