Grounded

Grounded focused on cultural practices that have been passed down through generations of family members to the artists – Glennys Briggs, Glenda Nicholls, and Dr Treahna Hamm.

For each of the artists the works and the heritage they invoke demonstrate the knowledge, kinship, connection, comfort, and care that their ancestors experienced within family and nation prior to 1788. In entwining ancestral knowledge in their contemporary creative practices, the artists keep this knowledge alive, a practice that has kept them grounded and connected throughout their lives.

Glennys Briggs is a Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta, Taungwurrung visual artist based in Wodonga. Her work reflects her strong connection to land, culture, and history through the mediums of painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation and sound, wearable art, and possum skin cloak making.

Glenda Nicholls is a Waddi Waddi, Yorta Yorta, Ngarrindjeri artist from Swan Hill and is known as a master weaver, constructing elaborate sculptural works that connect the present with her ancestral past. She applies cultural weaving techniques acquired from her ancestors to create works by weaving together fish nets and feather flowers, a craft that has been passed down through generations, originally made for adornment and later a source of income during the depression years.

Dr Treahna Hamm is a Yorta Yorta woman who lives near her ancestral lands of the Murray River, near Yarrawonga. Hamm’s artworks are composed with multi-layers of stories garnered from her Yorta Yorta experiences of living by the Murray River in Northern Victoria and southern NSW. Hamm works in printmaking, painting, photography, public art, sculpture, possum skin cloaks, murals, and highly individual fibre weaving. Hamm’s works offer a reclamation, revitalisation, and regeneration of South-Eastern Australian art, and the stories connecting Hamm to her culture and heritage.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.