About the Exhibition
Bringing together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia who work with expanded notions of textile and craft-based traditions, many of the works in the exhibition have string as an integral material in their making. Others use photography, painting and installation while still being grounded in a textile tradition.
The MCA Collection includes two important groups of work comprising fibre and textile by artists from the Arnhem Land communities of Maningrida and Ramingining; their acquisitions were an important moment in the history of the MCA, as they signalled a shift from objects of material culture becoming objects of contemporary art, and the exchange between craft and art-based disciplines.
string theory: Focus on contemporary Australian art continues the MCA’s role in re-presenting textile arts in a contemporary context.
Tony Albert, Optimism #3, 2008, type C photograph, image courtesy the artist and Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, © the artist