In July this year I participated in basket weaving workshop conducted by the eminent Indigenous artist Yvonne Koolmatrie at Linden — St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts.

Yvonne is internationally acclaimed for her extraordinary woven objects and highly important as an artist who has recuperated and now maintains traditional Ngarrindjeri rush weaving through workshops and teachings. It was intriguing and gratifying to learn the basic skills required to weave grass objects and to watch fellow participants create variously shaped baskets and mats.

The room hummed with the chatter of little groups that had formed and I thought that this must be what a quilting or knitting circle would be like. There was a striking air of shared purpose and community. Once I'd gotten the hang of it I found the process meditative and full of potential.
Jason Smith — Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria