Featuring woven objects, landscape photography and a suspended kelp sculpture, Design Tasmania presents immersed milaythina-ti (immersed in Country) – an exhibition of work by mother and daughter artists Vicki West and Tegan Murray.
West and Murray are proud trawlwoolway women, living in northeast lutruwita/Tasmania. immersed milaythina-ti is their response to the ecological, environmental and cultural fragility of milaythina (Country), as well as a celebration of the continuing culture and survival of their people.
“In this installation, we are responding to the fragility of milaythina ecologically, environmentally and culturally. While this installation carries our concern for milaythina / muka country / sea, it also celebrates the continuing culture and survival of our people,” said West and Murray. “It pays homage to the past and the continuing cultural warriors of lutruwita. This body of works are an expression of our interconnection to milaythina.”
Design Tasmania Artistic Director Michelle Boyde said that immersed milaythina-ti was a significant expression of First Peoples’ deep connection to Country. “The artists’ shared relationship with Country continues the millennia-long tradition of care and respect upheld by their ancestors,” she said. “Vicki and Tegan have created a body of stunning contemporary artworks that assert this continuing custodianship, and rich cultural and material practice.”
Artist Vicki West holds a Masters in Fine Arts, has had a number of national touring exhibitions, and is represented in the collections of major Australian institutions. West said that immersed milaythina-ti was a contemporary artwork that commented on history, the present and the future.
“Tegan and I have drawn on traditional cultural practices and materials to explore and celebrate cultural survival in the face of continuing colonial myths of the extinction of our people,” she said. “As mother and daughter, it is a powerful statement that we are still here.”
immersed milaythina-ti (immersed in Country)
Design Tasmania, Corner Brisbane and Tamar Streets, Launceston
Exhibition continues to 27 October 2024
Free entry
For more information, visit: www.designtasmania.com.au for details.
Image: Vicki West and Tegan Murray, immersed milaythina-ti (immersed in Country), installation view at Design Tasmania – photo by Melanie Kate