Yvonne Koolmatrie (born 1944) is an Australian artist and weaver of the

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

people, working in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Early life

Koolmatrie was born in

Wudinna Wudinna is a town in South Australia. The area was first settled by Europeans in 1861 when Robert George Standley lodged a claim for of land surrounding Weedna Hill ('weedna' later became changed to Wudinna which may be an Aboriginal word meanin ...

, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Her father was a

Kokatha The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language. Country Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...

man, Joseph Roberts, and her mother Margaret was a Ngarrindjeri /

Ramindjeri The Ramindjeri or Raminjeri people were an Aboriginal Australian people forming part of the ''Kukabrak'' grouping now otherwise known as the Ngarrindjeri people. They were the most westerly Ngarrindjeri, living in the area around Encounter Bay an ...

woman from the Coorong. Koolmatrie grew up in Meningie and the Coorong region, later moving to the Riverland town, Berri.

Career

Koolmatrie learned her craft in the early 1980s from elder and weaver, Dorothy Kartinyeri. Their coiled bundle technique uses local spiny-headed sedge ( Cyperus gymnocaulos), known to the artist as ''bilbili'' and river rushes, and Koolmatrie is credited with saving the traditional Ngarrindjeri craft. Koolmatrie is defiant in using her practice to dismantle the colonial myth that Ngarrindjeri culture and weaving practices are extinct. Her work stands as a testimony that the practice is alive and continuing. Her weavings include eel traps, turtles, mats, bowls and models of biplanes. She was excited by the potential offered by woven sedge grass and this was seen, by Stephen Gilchrist as having "freed her imagination to breathe life into the fantastic woven articulations that are now her trademark". Koolmatrie work is influenced by Janet Watson's woven works monoplane (1942) and bi-plane (1942) in the South Australia Museum, Watson is an Australian indigenous woman who learn't weaving from her family. Her works are included in many major galleries including the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan;

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...

;

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

;

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

;

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

; and

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

. In 1997, she was selected to represent Australia at the 47th Venice Biennale with

Judy Watson Judy Watson (born 1959) is an Australian Waanyi multi-media artist who works in print-making, painting, video and installation. Her work often examines Indigenous Australian histories, and she has received a number of high profile commissions ...

and

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kame Kngwarreye (or Emily Kam Ngwarray) (1910 – 3 September 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Austr ...

. In 2016 she was awarded the Red Ochre Award, peer-assessed recognition. In 2017, Koolmatrie was represented in the third

national Indigenous Art Triennial The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Defying Empire, four of her woven works were included. River Dreaming (2012) was previously acquired by the

in 2016.

Honours and recognition

Australia Council for the Arts

The

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a

Red Ochre Award The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists. Background and description The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts. It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...

. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, herself , Red Ochre Award , , - *2015 South Australian Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement *In 2020 Koolmatrie featured as one of six artists in the ABC TV series ''This Place: Artist Series''. The series is a partnership between the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and the

, in which the producers travelled to the countries of "some of Australia's greatest Indigenous artists to share stories about their work, their country, and their communities". * 2020-2021 National Gallery of Australia's ''Know My Name'' – "an initiative of the National Gallery of Australia to celebrate the significant contributions of Australian women artists"

Works and exhibitions

* 1997 Eel trap, sedge rushes (''

Lepidosperma canescens ''Lepidosperma canescens'' (common name hoary rapier-sedge) is a sedge of the family Cyperaceae that is native to south-east South Australia and Victoria. There are no synonyms. Description ''Lepidosperma canescens'' is a clump-forming perenn ...

''), in

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

* 2015 Tarnanthi (

Art Gallery of SA The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

) * 2000 Beyond The Pale (

Adelaide Biennial The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

) * 2000 Festival of the Dreaming (Sydney Olympics) * 1997 Off Shore: Onsite (

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Casula, a south-western outer suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Before being renovated and converted into an art ...

) * 1991 Two Countries (

Tandanya The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, usually referred to as Tandanya, is an art museum located on Grenfell Street in Adelaide, South Australia. It specialises in promoting Indigenous Australian art, including visual art, music an ...

) * 1990 Look At Us Now: South Australian Aboriginal Artists (Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute) * 1989 Ngarrindjeri Basketry and Painting (

JamFactory JamFactory is a not-for-profit arts organisation which includes training facilities, galleries and shops, located in Adelaide city centre, the West End precinct of Adelaide and on the Seppeltsfield (wine), Seppeltsfield Estate in the Barossa Val ...

, Adelaide) * 1987 Ngarrindjeri Art and Craft (

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koolmatrie, Yvonne Australian women artists Living people 1944 births Date of birth missing (living people) Australian weavers Australian Aboriginal artists Artists from South Australia