Intertwined - an immense exhibition of fibre and ceramics opens this weekend
Published 09 March 2023
Written by Sam Kirby
Photography by Castle & Crown
The world can seem like a really big place.…until it doesn’t.
Like the day a friend and I (they had only recently moved to Toowoomba to study) randomly discovered we were related and shared a great-great-grandmother.
Or the moment when striking up conversation with fellow tourists around a campfire in Morocco, that we realised just how similar our lives had been - bonding over in-jokes, niche pop-culture references and shared childhood experiences, despite never having met and growing up in vastly different cultures some 15,000 km’s apart.
Ask sisters Taryn Walker and Shannan Jackwitz where the idea for their upcoming art exhibition Intertwined came from, and they’ll share similar stories, about travelling through Europe, and small-world moments.
It’s six degrees of separation.
“Fundamentally, we are all the same”, Shannan explains.
“[despite all our seeming differences], it’s the same common threads that link us all together; it’s love, it’s empathy, compassion, faith, hope, kindness – intrinsically, these are the things that make us human.”
The same can be said across history too.
It can be natural to think of the past in an abstract, often primitive context, and yet there’s something deeply profound about the realisation that just as we were rising this morning and approaching our day filled with ambitions and purpose, so too were people 3,000 years ago in a near-identical way and with the same intentionality. While the technology we use and the world around us may have changed, the same shared beat of the human spirit is at the centre of it all.
Intertwined invites us to reflect on our collective humanity, our place in this world, and our connection to others through the human emotions that bind us.
The exhibition itself is expansive, featuring over 40 ceramic pieces, each unique and intricately hand embellished with details and symbolism, that sit alongside a vast 6m x 5m expanse of interwoven threads and ceramics. Suspended high above visitors’ heads, the immersive installation cascades down the gallery wall and spills onto the floor below. There is some deep meaning to this too, but for those more interested in its visual impact, the experience is no less engrossing.
It is also a first for the two siblings - Shannan, an embroidery artist and Taryn, a fibre artist and ceramicist.
“Being sisters, it has been a special experience being able to create something with so much meaning together, but also exciting being able to combine our artistic mediums in a way that has been both unique and incredibly intentional to the piece,” Taryn explains.
“Part of the reason we chose the materials that we did, was to reflect that primal and tactile link to the past; [but also for their symbolism] as metaphors for life. Threads knot and stitch together, bind one another and find strength in their unity. Clay begins its life soft and malleable, till it is subjected to intense heat and pressure, [but] if the groundwork has been done with thought and integrity, it will survive to become what it was always destined to.”
Ultimately, Intertwined is a visual representation of who we all are, a celebration of our shared experiences and commonalities, and a powerful reminder of where we sit together amongst this ever-evolving art installation we call life.
Intertwined is open at The Write Gallery from 10 March - 5 April before the space is dedicated to workshops. Visitors are invited to contribute to the final installation as a community art piece by personalising and adding their own unique ceramic disks until the end of May.
For more information or to register for the exhibition opening, click here.
