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.