One stitch at a time: JamFactory pays tribute to Aunty Ellen Trevorrow
This year’s JamFactory Icon exhibition celebrates Ngarrindjeri Elder and weaver Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, and the legacies she has built over four decades of practice.
JamFactory Icon series is an annual solo exhibition celebrating the achievements of South Australian crafts-based media artist who have been most influential in the scene. Previous artists in this category include Tom Moore, Angela Valamanesh and Kunmanara Carroll just to name a few. Each exhibition opens on Kaurna Yarta in conjunction with the South Australian Living Artist Festival (SALA) before touring nationally.
This year’s JamFactory Icon is Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, a proud Ngarrindjeri Elder and internationally acclaimed weaver with her practice spanning over 40 years. Weaving through Time is a snippet into her loyal dedication to culture and community, and her evolution as an artist.
The curator is Ngarrindjeri, Narungga and Kaurna artist Carly Tarkari Dodd, and formerly JamFactory Assistant Curator. Through traditional baskets and fish traps, to large-scale sculptures and wearable weaving including textiles, dresses and jewellery, Weaving through Time captures Aunty Ellen’s innovation in contemporary Ngarrindjeri weaving produced with her longtime collaborator Dr Jelina Haines.
The relationship between Aunty Ellen and Carly is more than an artist and curator relationship. It started back in 2008 when Carly and her family went down to Camp Coorong – a place 10 minutes from Meningie, where Aunty Ellen and her late husband Uncle Tom Trevorrow would continue the survival of Ngarrindjeri culture after being heavily disrupted.
It was at Camp Coorong that Carly learnt how to weave from Aunty Ellen and she expressed that weaving was always in us – an ode to our blood memory. For Aunty Ellen, passing on knowledge and culture is invaluable, and whenever I hear her speak, she always mentions our young ones and assuring they have this knowledge too. That is evident in the practice Carly continues to grow and evolve from Aunty Ellen’s workshop.
Walking into the gallery, an instant sense of calm travels through your body, as your eyes take in the delicate woven rushes into wearable art and tradition Sister Girl Baskets. The backdrop is a muted green that transports you alongside the waters of Ngarrindjeri Ruwi. Here you can imagine and hear the six-foot rushes being picked, and feeling the fibres in your hand.
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It’s so good to sit back and weave and if you’ve got good rushes. You’re smiling and you know it’s going to go into that flow – Aunty Ellen Trevorrow
Nothing compares to the raw, fresh smell of the oils from the reeds, which have been soaked up by the towels – Carly Tarkari Dodd
Amongst the delicate, are the harsh truths of rising salt levels that affect the quality of rushes, as well as access to them. During Aunty Ellen’s lifetime, the sources of rushes are unfortunately no longer there. The distance to healthy and plentiful sources also grow scarce, and it becomes a bigger family effort to sustain and care for rushes and Ruwi. This damage is not only cultural, it is environmental.
In Carly’s curation, she also draws attention to Ngarrindjeri Kor:ni weavers – reminding viewers that it’s just not Ngarrindjeri Mi:mini’s that carry and preserve this practice. In Gallery Two, Weaving the Machine displays Robert Wuldi’s intricate recycled copper woven baskets and mats paying homage to Roberts’ great-grandfather, Milerum. The copper wire amongst the electric blue is incredibly captivating, bringing the audience on the journey through small and large-scale works.
These exhibitions hold tens of thousand of years of knowledge across JamFactory’s galleries. They hold generational storytelling, survival and legacy, and revive knowledge that creates lasting impacts on community.
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It keeps us alive, without it we wouldn’t be here, we would be here celebrating this Ngarrindjeri excellence – Carly Tarkari Dodd
she has built a legacy
a line of strong women
following one stitch at a time
yes she is the greatest living artist in south australia
– Excerpt from Blak Excellence by Dominic Guerrera, featured in the Weaving through Time monograph
Aunty Ellen Trevorrow: Weaving Through Time continues at JamFactory until September 14
Jayda Wilson is Gugada and Wirangu artist and writer with Thai ancestry based on Kaurna Yarta, Adelaide, and the latest recipient of the Create SA and InReview First Nations Arts Writing Mentorship. Jayda is working with mentor K.A. Ren Wyld, an award-winning author and critic of Martu descent based on Kaurna Yerta, to write a series of articles for publication in InReview.