Ivy Minniecon
12 August - 2 September 2023

A green Kuku Yalanji weave of the balji, a traditional bag made from the kakan of the duwar (Black Palm), native to the Daintree Rainforest. — **Ivy Minniecon, *Ngana us* (2023), courtesy of the artist. Photo: Dr Nicola Hooper** © Ivy Minniecon

Ngana us pays homage to family and Country, using the traditional Kuku Yalanji weave from Country and indexical prints. These act as a conduit to forming connections to land, Country, family, community, spirit, and ancestry. Minniecon’s exquisitely woven traditional baljis are representative of ancestors and family, acting as vessels, collecting memory and trauma.

As with other First Nations peoples, Ivy’s stories are multi-layered and complex with many generational narratives, certainly not just black and white. This is reflected in both her prints and baljis, some printed in faint ghost-like shades of pearl, pale sepia and greys, each basket leaves faint images on paper, responding to historical sadness. The stories are faded and hidden but still there. The baljis representing Ivy’s family and descendants show age through colour change; the newer green fresh baljis act as a metaphor for the newer members of the family, sitting beside and protected by the older. The materiality of the fibres from Country holds the unseen stories and the shadows of the balji whisper across the walls and the floor of the gallery space referencing the traumas of the past. The repetition of the prints speaks dichotomously of family and to the multiplicity of First Nations trauma.

Ivy Minniecon is a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji, Kabi Kabi, Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander Nations, with an arts practice grounded in a sense of place, connection, and belonging to Country. Ivy’s main focus is the Yalanji weave of the balji, a traditional bag made from the kakan of the duwar (Black Palm), native to the Daintree Rainforest. Her current weaving practice translates lived experiences into a healing journey and holistically speaks of art and culture being linked intrinsically to identity.

As an emerging artist and a Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art program graduate, Queensland College of Art, Ivy is currently exhibiting nationally and has her artworks held in many collections. Ivy’s work speaks to the importance of these traditional cultural practices being revitalised, rejuvenated and continued for many generations.

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OPENING
6-8pm, Friday 11 August 2023
JWAC Gallery, 420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

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WEAVING SESSION
11am, Saturday 19 August 2023
JWAC Gallery, 420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

Join us on Saturday 19 August for a Weaving Session with Ivy Minniecon and Miss Gertrude. Come prepared to learn a new skill or enhance an already found love of weaving by learning the weaving technique known as coiling. Connective, interactive, immersive and engaging - Ivy & Gerty’s weaving sessions are sacred spaces that they not only bring their cultural knowledge to but where individuals can share in a yarning circle and embrace the importance of sharing, listening and learning new ways to move forward together in this journey of life, love & healing.

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JWAC Gallery
Cnr Brunswick and Berwick Streets
420 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley Q 4006
(map here)

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@minnieconivy