‘Baskets have always been an integral part of our lives. What is the attraction? Is it the materials they are made from, or is it because of their individuality from being ‘hand’ made without the use of any mechanical device?’ Virginia Kaiser, Textile Fibre Forum, No. 27, 1990.

Ararat Gallery TAMA has specialised in the collecting of contemporary textile fibre art since the mid-1970s. The Gallery holds a small but significant sub‐collection of Australian basketry and objects which employ basketry weaving or construction techniques. These objects provide a sound overview of contemporary Australian basketry practice from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, with many of these earlier works on long-term loan from the Victorian State Craft Collection. Later acquisitions in 2010 and 2011 from Nalda Searles, Virginia Kaiser and Nancy Duggan extended the breadth of the sub‐collection, while in 2012 TAMA also commissioned Large Eel Trap by one of Australia’s foremost First Nations weavers, Yvonne Koolmatrie.

This exhibition celebrates the unveiling of TAMA’s most recent acquisitions, a trio of baskets by Lisa Waup, an artist of Gunditjmara, Torres Strait Islander and Italian heritage. Looking Through Time (2017), Spirit (2015) and Mixed Bag (2019) showcase Waup’s distinctive weaving practice and highlight themes close to her heart: tracing lost history, ancestral relationships, Country, motherhood and time.