Everything is sacred
Amelia Skelton
3–27 Jul 2024
Everything is Sacred is a site-specific installation that uses methodologies of sorting and archiving as a means to meditate on the poetics of old, thrown away, unused and unloved textiles. Through engaging in a slow and considered process of cataloguing her substantial collection of textiles, the artist explores alternative ways of engaging with material culture.
Textiles are complex, poetic and contradictory, with the capacity to be and do multiple things at once. They are embedded with a rich history, have diverse utility and signify endlessly. Further, textiles' value is ever-fluctuating, falling victim to unstable social and geopolitical factors, economic conditions, art and craft hierarchies, fast-moving fashion trends and personal taste. In ‘Everything is Sacred’, I aim to focus on textiles' potentiality and poetics, uplifting them from the trash piles they were destined for to posit alternative ways of engaging with them outside of the use, exchange and disposal cycle. ‘Everything is Sacred’ explores these themes through a site-specific installation and the creation of a textile archive. Each item of fabric displayed in the installation has been catalogued by the artist. The fabrics are each given an item number that corresponds with a form which details the fabrics texture, size, colour and origin. The intention of the archive is to emphasise the significance of the exhibited textiles, and in turn, suggest an alternative means of engaging with them, beyond function and decoration.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
Amelia Skelton Amelia Skelton is a multidisciplinary artist, living and working on Gadigal land. Working at the intersection of quiltmaking, sculpture and assemblage, Skelton’s practice investigates the complexity of textiles; their abundance, familiarity, significance and inherent political implications. Skelton graduated from the National Art School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture) in 2016 and a Master of Fine Arts (Drawing) in 2022. Skelton has participated in national and international group exhibitions and solo exhibitions including This one goes out to the one(s) I love (2022) at First Draft Gallery and Some things last a long time (2023) at NASHA Gallery.