Elisa Jane Carmichael

Quandamooka artist Elisa Jane Carmichael is a multidisciplinary artist who honours her salt-water heritage by incorporating materials collected from Country, embracing traditional techniques, and expressing contemporary adaptations through painting, weaving, and textiles. She comes from a family of artists and curators and works closely with her female kin to revive, nurture, and preserve cultural knowledge and practice. Elisa is a descendant of the Ngugi people, one of three clans who are the traditional custodians of Quandamooka, also known as Yoolooburrabee—people of the sand and sea. Quandamooka Country comprises the waters and lands of and around Moreton Bay, southeast Queensland, Australia. Elisa draws upon her practice to reflect on visual ancestral experiences of Quandamooka Bujong Djara (Mother Earth), to share the beauty, power, and importance of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) yesterday, today, and tomorrow—ngayigany, ngayiganya, ngayigawa (seen, seeing, will see).

Ozcare Newstead is a cherished place that fosters the growth of an interconnected, compassionate community. The Curatorial Rationale ‘treasured spirit’ draws on Ozcare’s values and ambitions to conjure twofold responses: the tangible treasured place of home at Ozcare Newstead, and the mind as a spirit that must be treasured and nurtured. It speaks to our ambitions as humans, forever welcoming curiosity, pursuing knowledge and seeking connection. This treasured spirit illuminates our life with inspiration, joy, and care. 

A woven basket arches over the path holding spirit and stories. The basket connects people and places as it loops from side to side with woven rope lines, textures of paperbark and cut-outs representing melaleuca leaves. Woven baskets hold history and memories of the time. This site was once filled with melaleuca trees. Melaleuca trees were important plants for First Nations people across Australia. Woven leaves can be gazed up at from down below when walking through the archway. When you look up at these leaves, the sky is behind them. The same sky which the traditional owners looked to under these trees for thousands of years.

This artwork will nourish the lives of residents at Ozcare, fostering imagination and sparking connection. Through various forms and functions, art will respond to the spirits of place and people as something to be treasured, nurtured and taken care of. Treasured spirit will weave the connected thread of our lifetimes, which traces the people we meet, the places we go and the connections we make. Artists may uncover treasures within the urban context and site history or nurture a sense of community spirit, creating an aspirational artistic response to the sense of belonging and connection anchored in place.

UAP is proud to have collaborated with Carmichael and One Space Gallery, from technical design to fabrication of this incredible artwork.