Thu 19 Oct 2017 – Wed 28 Feb 2018

The Museum of the Great Southern is proud to present a national touring exhibition from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) focused on shell-stringing, one of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community’s most culturally significant and closely-guarded traditions.

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String features a variety of beautiful, delicate and rare shell necklaces, created by Tasmanian Aboriginal Ancestors in the 1800s, and acclaimed makers of today, as well as a new wave of stringers who had the opportunity to learn the tradition through the luna tunapri (women’s knowledge) cultural revitalisation project.

kanalaritja: An Unbroken String is a culmination of the journey of cultural renewal, while also celebrating the generations of makers who have sustained this uniquely Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practice.

The exhibition is accompanied by a dedicated publication featuring a range of essays and photographs, aiming to build awareness and provide a definitive account of the unique cultural practice of shell stringing.

A Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) touring exhibition.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.

image:  luna tunapri workshop, Flinders Island 2011. Image copyright Lucia Rossi