Conversation with Cassie Leatham (a Taungurung Woman of the Kulin Nation) and Ange Jeffery (a Wiradjuri artist) about their creations featuring in the upcoming Black Jewellery -Finding Past, Linking present exhibition by the Koori Heritage Trust.
The Koori Heritage Trust’s Blak Jewellery - Finding Past, Linking Present event features contemporary jewellery by 11 Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and designers participating in the first year of the Koorie Heritage Trust’s inaugural Blak Design program.
Blak Design is a four-year program aiming to foster First Nations cultural innovation within the Victorian design sector.
The program also seeks to provide a platform for nurturing sustainable, First Nations design practices.
Cassie Leatham says her body of work presented in the program represents the connection between old and new, and being able to continue the stories of weaving by using contemporary techniques and methods to join the past and present together.
“My journey mirrors the past and keeps weaving strong and visible connections for the future,” Cassie Leatham said
Ange Jeffrey says that her entries represent her Country and Wambuul, also known as the Macquarie River. Their shape and style are derived from gorgets, breastplates, and King and Queen plates.
A gorget was a piece of cloth worn by French women during the medieval period which evolved into armour. Two hundred years later it became decorative military regalia.
In Australia it was modified again by colonisers and given to First Nations People as a means of recognition and reward. Today, Aboriginal breastplates continue to be divisive.
“The intention of these pieces is to push the Aboriginal breastplate through its next cultural evolution,” Ange Jeffrey said.
Each of the participants in Black Jewellery -Finding Past, Linking presenthave undertaken intensive hands-on workshops; learning and refining their jewellery making skills at RMIT jewellery studios under the guidance of jewellers Blanche Tilden and Laura Deakin.
They have also participated in professional development workshops with creative industry leaders in business, design and marketing.
Blak Jewellery - Finding Past, Linking Present opens Saturday 4 September until Sunday 14 November 2021 at the Koorie Heritage Trust, Yarra Building, Fed Square.
