KAIT James is doing her part to reclaim her culture.<\/p>\n
The Wadawurrung visual artist\u2019s latest exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Hang us out to dry<\/em>, involves punch needle embroidering over Aboriginal-themed souvenir tea towels from the 70s and 80s to highlight Indigenous issues.<\/p>\n James said she was inspired after seeing vintage tea towels for sale in op shops while on holiday.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the type of things that people did keep as a sort of souvenir,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a big love-hate relationship with Indigenous souvenirs, I used them as a way of telling my story.<\/p>\n \u201cI originally started using them by the year so whatever year it was I was researching what was happening in First Nations culture in Australia at that time and then embroidering that on to the tea towel.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she also used them to recount her own personal history, including an ode to 1983 Culture Club song Karma Chameleon<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cSome are kind of autobiographical, so whatever I was doing at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s one that\u2019s called Every day is like survival,<\/em> it was the year that song came out.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that piece I\u2019ve got a big yellow ghetto blaster and I remember in 1983 that\u2019s what I had and what I was listening to at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow they\u2019re not really about the year, I just use them more as a canvas. Dealing with issues like land rights, treaties, looking at the commercialisation of our culture, the copyright of our flag and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally from Ballarat, James has lived in Geelong and currently lives and works in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cGeelong and Ballarat being Wadawurrung country it\u2019s super important to me and I like the idea of people in those areas seeing Wadawurrung artists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the show, quite a few of my cousins came and they really love it which is amazing.<\/p>\n