Juanella McKenzie
Port Augusta, SA
"This woven carry dish symbolises five generations of women connected through the female line, passed mother to daughter.
My great grandmother, grandmother, mother, me and my daughters.
Each is woven with a cloth or hair belonging to or fibre representing, through time, our DNA intertwined and becoming one.
Passing on of tradition, knowledge, sacred customs, identity and belonging."
About the Artist
Juanella McKenzie was born in 1990 in Port Augusta, South Australia, and is an Adnyamathanha (Flinders Ranges) and Luritja (Central Desert) woman and artist.
Juanella grew up learning from her Elders out bush, immersed in her culture. She draws most of her inspiration from her family�s homeland in the Flinders Ranges, where she spent a great amount of time.
Juanella�s practice includes weaving, drawing and adornment. She sources from Country using feathers, nuts, seeds and echidna quills, as well as ochre and animal fats. She loves to tell the stories of Yarta (Earth or Land). She passes the knowledge of the songlines/storylines on to her three daughters.
Her art has been shared in numerous exhibitions and in 2021 she was a finalist in the Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia. In 2022, she is a first-time finalist of the Telstra NATSIAA.
