Thread: Connecting stories and community

For millennia, clothing and body adornment have shaped, and made visible, connections to land, community and culture. Developed through ongoing conversations between Logan-based artists, community members and the National Portrait Gallery, Thread: Connecting stories and community traces the relationships between garments and the histories, labour and knowledge systems of First Peoples, and offers pathways for deeper cross-cultural understanding.

On show at Logan Art Gallery from 18 April to 13 June, this exhibition features works from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, including 19th-century prints and contemporary photographs. These portraits will be shown in conversation with existing and developing works led by local artists, Quandamooka woman (with cultural links to Eulo and the South Sea Islander community, Vanuatu) Kyra Mancktelow, Pamela See (Xue Mei Ling) and Sāmoan/Australian collective Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi.

Thread: Connecting stories and community is the outcome of a creative consultation process grounded in deep listening and sustained dialogue with segments of Logan’s diverse community. In bringing different perspectives together, the exhibition reflects on the shared and evolving cultural landscape of Logan and opens up new ways of thinking about collective identity and collaboration.

These ideas of collaborative and intercultural exchange have informed the core commission for the exhibition: a possum skin cloak to be made by Mancktelow, her family, community and Elders over the course of the exhibition at Logan Art Gallery. This work, alongside other responsive artworks made in situ, will evolve throughout the exhibition, and will later be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Thread: Connecting stories and community was co-designed and co-curated by the National Portrait Gallery, Logan Art Gallery and local artists and creatives as a pilot project to develop new ways of working with communities across Australia.

Supported by the Australian Government, Thread: Connecting stories and community will be on view at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra from 4 July to 13 September after showing at Logan Art Gallery.