in conversation with Cristian Tablazon for Regional Assembly

"The work that I make is an act of healing, doing, making, and sharing. And it's about creating awareness about culture and the presence of culture and our Quandamooka Country through the works that I weave today. It's about working with my hands and gathering materials where our ancestors would harvest from. It's about listening to Country and working on Country and sitting quietly, being with Country and connecting with my matriarchal line. The women before me really paved the way through the hard times in this lived memory, and I think a lot of them and their strength. Making art and practicing art to me is a way of living and it’s really embedded in my daily life, and it comes from a place of wanting to practice culture and be with Country and be inspired by Country, and it’s an expression of being with place and connecting with place. We're here, and we always will be here. And it's a reminder, too, for people to think about the lands that they're walking on and to think about the spirit of that land and what the landscape was like once."

- Elisa Jane Carmichael