Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Guest Editor: Maya Hodge
Editors: Georgia Hayward, Laura Pike, Akil Ahamat, Lou Garcia-Dolnik, Bea Rubio-Gabriel, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, Ena Grozdanic
Digital Producers: Yuanyu Li, Sam Soh, Claude Moelan, Mike Spiteri, Athanasios Lazarou, Jayden Fisher
Issue 48: GroundswellPublished October 2024
My woven artwork reflects how the act of weaving symbolises the transmission of knowledge. How each mob, community, and family pass down their wisdom across generations. The cyclical nature of our ways of doing is embodied in this work, where knowledge is not only preserved but lived, embodied, and continually recreated.
Weaving has long been an act of cultural preservation, a quiet yet powerful resistance against the erasure of Aboriginal practices and identities. In this work, the threads represent more than just natural materials, they are a metaphor for the interwoven lives, stories, and knowledge that flow between generations. This transfer of knowledge is integral to our culture; it’s how we maintain our ways of knowing and doing, ensuring that the wisdom of our ancestors lives on through each new generation.
The piece highlights how knowledge is lived and embodied in everyday acts. It mirrors those quite moments, whether it be weaving with Aunties, gathering around the river, or sharing stories over a cuppa. This ongoing exchange of wisdom is not static but a living and continuously flowing process. It’s recreated and transformed with each new telling, each new act of resistance, ensuring that our ways remain alive and relevant.
By blending weaving with storytelling, my piece embodies this ongoing knowledge transfer, a force of resistance and survival that ensures our stories, identities, and connections to Country continue to thrive. This piece stands as a testament to the strength of our cultural continuity and collective knowledge, asserting that true resistance comes from our ability to maintain, adapt, and re-create our knowledge across generations.
Hope Kuchel is a Barkindji artist, raised in Mildura and now based on the lands of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne). Hope’s work explores the strength, resilience, and cyclical nature of Aboriginal culture through contemporary expressions. Each piece seeks to convey cultural continuity, ancestral knowledge, and the everyday acts of resistance that define Aboriginal resilience. Through weaving and storytelling, Hope invites viewers to engage with the layers of Aboriginal history and lived experience.