Delvene Cockatoo-Collins belongs too Quandamooka Country, and lives and works on Minjerribah – North Stradbroke Island. Her arts practice includes developing work for exhibitions, providing arts workshops and her label of handmade items Made on Minjerribah. Her practice explores stories of her family's lived experiences on Minjerribah, and includes responding to representations of images and objects of Quandamooka. One of the recurring features in Delvene’s work reflects her matriarchal line, six generations from her to her grandmothers’ great-grandmother.
Woven to Our Ancestors depicts family relationships and that there are long connections to our Ancestors. Woven to Our Ancestors particularly relates to the written words of Bethel Delaney (artist Grandmother) in 1974, ‘Dilly bag and mat making like our grannies did’.
The loop pattern shows the connections between each of the generations and the lines are the individual people. As the artist draws on her own family - the daughter of Evelyn Delaney, who is the daughter of Bethel Delaney (Martin), who is the daughter of Matilda Brown, who is the daughter of Granny Mibu, who is the daughter of Granny Ngiri.
This is handprinted on linen in studio on Minjerribah North Stradbroke Island by Delvene Cockatoo-Collins.
Size: 50 x 70cm