Yvonne Koolmatrie

Learning resource

Forever Memory

Yvonne Koolmatrie
Ngarrindjeri people
born 1944 Wudinna, South Australia
lives and works Berri, South Australia 

Speak your mind

Talking points or provocations to unpack the works through discussion and/or contemplation:

  • Consider why Yvonne Koolmatrie harvests and prepares the sedge grass herself for weaving.
  • Why is the art of weaving important to Indigenous groups?
  • What images can you identify in her weaving?

Senior options

  • How is the art of weaving connected to the identity of Indigenous women and their connection to land?
  • Discuss the ancestral creation story of the Murray River and how it is depicted in Koolmatrie’s work mat.

Get to work

Creative making suggestions that highlight key concepts:

  • Create your own piece of woven art using grasses and natural resources you can find within a block of your home or school.

Think it through

Ideas to aid you in the creation of works:

  • Consider the environment you pass every day and how it connects to you.
  • Which natural materials around you would weave the best?
  • What uses, or purpose, could your weaving have?
  • Discover the Indigenous names in your local area for everyday items such as stone, plants, seed, fruit, hill, valley, river, cave etc. 

Senior options

  • Think about the figures in Koolmatrie’s work. Can you create images that represent you through your surrounding natural materials?
  • Is there a story connected to you or your family that you can tell through your weaving?
  • Research a place of cultural significance to the Indigenous people of your region. Find out more about cultural practices that would have taken place before colonial interventions. Talk about the ways your community could honour the legacy of the traditional custodians with a site-specific installation.

Places to go

Links for more information about the artist:

Talk the talk

Glossary of words in the education resource and artist statement:

  • sedge grass: a group of native grasses that are part of the Cyperaceae or sedge family; usually tufted marsh plants related to grass
  • ancestral: inherited from ancestor or ancestors and handed down through generation to the present
  • natural resource: materials or substances occurring in nature which can be used by people
  • significance: the quality of being worthy of attention; importance

 

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.