With visionary foresight, the founding team behind Ararat Gallery in the late 1960s and early 1970s established textiles as a defining focus of the Gallery’s collection. Taking inspiration from Ararat’s historical association with fine merino wool production, the Gallery has remained committed to exhibiting and collecting textile and fibre art. Fifty years on, the enduring influence of the craft revival movement continues to affirm the cultural relevance and renewed appeal of textiles.

Long recognised as a radical and subversive medium, textiles continue to command critical attention. Ararat Gallery TAMA occupies a distinctive and timely position in today’s cultural landscape through its sustained commitment to textile-based collections and exhibitions.

Many textile and fibre-based artworks look different each time they are exhibited; the elements fall and sit uniquely every time they are installed, reshaping with each outing. The artworks are responsive to their environment – watch carefully to see them gently rise and fall in the air flow.

This exhibition encompasses artworks held in the TAMA Collection, as well as artworks in the Victorian State Craft Collection, which have been on long-term loan to the Gallery since 2004.