Sonja Carmichael has been at the forefront of the regeneration of Quandamooka weaving. A Ngugi woman from Quandamooka Country, she lives and works on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island in southeast Queensland. Through weaving, Carmichael and her daughters—artists with whom she collaborates—have connected with the hands of their ancestors.
In her flourishing artistic practice, Carmichael creates woven gulayi (Quandamooka women’s bags) using traditional fibers such as ungaire (freshwater swamp reed), which continue to grow throughout Saltwater Country despite the devastating effects of colonization and climate change. She interlaces the traditional fibers with natural materials such as shells, as well as discarded ghost nets, fishing lines, and other marine debris found during her regular beach walks on Minjerribah. The gulayi she creates are now a powerful symbol of cultural resilience and renewal.
Cammeerangan Ngalin-ngur Gining | From Our Ancestors’ Hands – Story Bags is Carmichael’s first international solo exhibition, and it presents a new direction in her practice. In this body of work, she explores the presence and power of Giibum (the moon), which influences not just the tides but all cycles of life on Quandamooka Country. She created major new work that honors the seasonal migration of Yalingbila (humpback whales) past Minjerribah and Mulgumpin to the deep ocean waters. Like Quandamooka weaving practices, the Yalingbila were almost eradicated, so the return of these significant ancestral spirits and their young to their sacred waters signals the strength of Quandamooka culture. The stories held by the gulayi she weaves have been, and always will, be witnessed by the ever-present moon.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is an installation titled Wunjayi Wagaringya Quandamooka Jagun (Carrying Quandmooka Country Today) – Yarabin Ragi (Sea and Bush), 2026 that connects materially, through the use of copper wire, to a collaborative work created by the artist and her daughter, Elisa Jane Carmichael, on view at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC.
Sonja Carmichael will be undertaking an artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe September 12 – October 11, 2026.
Sonja Carmichael is a senior Quandamooka weaver. An active member of her community, she is a leader in the regeneration of Quandamooka weaving, passing on cultural knowledge and skills through workshops, exhibitions, and field research.
In her practice, she draws inspiration from the many stories connected to traditional Quandamooka weaving and explores contemporary materials and techniques—in particular, discarded ghost nets and fishing lines—that directly respond to concerns about the preservation of the natural environment.
In recent years, she has extended her practice to include the fabrication of large-scale sculptures of her woven forms and she has been commissioned for major national and international projects. Carmichael and her daughter Elisa Jane Carmichael were commissioned in 2023 to make two major works for the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC titled Ungaire (freshwater reeds, Minjerribah – North Stradbroke Island) and Quandamooka Gulayi (Quandamooka Dillybags). Most recently Sonja Carmichael completed a major public art commission, Talwalpin Durenma Dutta (Cotton Tree Grows Strong) at 400 George Street, Magandjin (Brisbane).
Carmichael has shown in major national and international group exhibitions including: All That is Alive (2025), University of Technology Sydney; On Country: Photography from Australia (2025), Recontres d’Arles, France; Wildflowering By Design (2025), Redland Art Gallery; Our Stories: Contemporary Indigenous Weaving (2025), Cairns Art Gallery; Create Exchange: Ngumpi (2024), Redland Art Gallery; Deep Blue (2024), Pine Rivers Art Gallery; Seeds and Sovereignty (2024), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA); How We Remember Tomorrow (2024), University of Queensland Art Museum (UQAM); Mare Amoris | Sea of Love (2023), UQAM; TarraWarra Biennale: ua usiusi fa’ava’asavili (2023), Tarrawarra Museum of Art; Gone Fishing (2023), QAGOMA; Perspectives of Brisbane (2023), Museum of Brisbane; The Space Between Us (2022), Nuit Blanche, Toronto; HEAT (2022), Redcliffe Art Gallery; Undertow (2022), Freemantle Arts Centre; Dabiyil Bajara: Water Footprints (2022), Tanks Art Centre; Carriers of Memory (2021), Museum of Brisbane; Open Hands (2020), Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia; Long water: fibre stories (2020), Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Carmichael’s work is held in significant collections, including the Queensland Art Gallery, Museum of Brisbane, National Gallery of Victoria, National Museum of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Redland Art Gallery, and the Embassy of Australia, Washington, DC.
Image: Sonja Carmichael. Photo by Angie Simms and North Stradbroke Island Museum on Minjerribah. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
To view a PDF of the wall text and labels for the exhibition, click the link below:
This exhibition is supported by UVA Arts. Sonja Carmichael’s residency is supported by Creative Australia. Held in conjunction with Carmichael’s exhibition and residency, Woven Together: International First Nations Weaving Forum is sponsored by the Arts Endowment through UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts.
Sonja Carmichael acknowledges the support of Gaja Kerry Charlton for her wisdom in providing words in Gowar (a Ngugi dialect) for this exhibition. Carmichael is represented by Onespace.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that this website contains the names and images of deceased people.
