EUCALYPTUSDOM: POWERHOUSE MUSEUM

MAYABUU

Large scale sensory textile installation suspended in motion featuring over 100 meters of locally printed silk, hand dyed with eucalypt and sandalwood (natural plant dye) acknowledging a story of time, country, relationships + responsibility. A collaboration between Murawari maker Tom Barker, Yuwaalaraay knowledge holder Ted Fields, Natural Dye Artist Joanna Fowles, Photographer Chris Chen and Yuwaalaraay Composer Nardi Simpson - Lucy Simpson

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Exhibition: Eucalyptusdom reckons with our cultural history and ever-changing relationship with the gum tree, presenting over 400 objects from the Powerhouse Collection alongside 17 newly commissioned works by creative practitioners working across the fields of design, architecture, film, applied arts and performance. Taking its title from a 1930s text by Edward F Swain, one of Australia’s earliest conservationists, the exhibition will also reveal the Powerhouse Museum’s unique and longstanding relationship with the eucalypt.

Drawing on the Museum’s comprehensive design and applied arts collection, ceramics, furniture and a sledge made of spotted gum that went with Sir Douglas Mawson to Antarctica, Eucalyptusdom will also explore the eucalypt’s emergence as a symbol of Australian identity in post-federation Australia.

Commissioned practitioners presenting new work include Nicole Barakat and the Rohingya Women’s Development Organisation, Dean Cross, Julie Gough, First Nations Fashion and Design, Ashley Hay, Vera Hong, Jonathan Jones and Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM, Nicholas Mangan, Anna May Kirk, Luna Mrozik-Gawler, Jazz Money, Lucy Simpson, Yasmin Smith, Mr Wanambi, Sera Waters, Damien Wright and Bonhula Yunupingu and Justine Youssef.

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Images courtesy Powerhouse Museum, Zan Wimberley, Chris Chen and Lucy Simpson.