Art / Weaving the Coast, Christiane Keller. At Tuggeranong Arts Centre, until October 17. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

Captivated by intricate patterns etched into rock, local artist Christiane Keller’s precise reproduction of rock’s surfaces leaves the indelible mark of nature on her artworks.

Keller trained as an anthropologist, art historian, and curator. She has worked with Aboriginal artists and their communities around Australia over the past 20 years. Keller has learned from the Tjanpi Desert Weavers in the Central Desert and studied twining, coiling, and string crafting from fibre artisans in Arnhem Land. Her life and artistic endeavours have been greatly influenced by these connections.

Using natural and recycled materials, the 15 artworks in this solo exhibition reflect Keller’s long relationship with the NSW South Coast region. Each work responds directly to a specific location, and all carry an understanding for this country through care while honouring the place.

Striking similarities not just to rock formations, but to Aboriginal art exude from each work. Some take on the form of a bark canvas, with colours to match.

In the short video in the exhibition, Keller is seen with the metal-formed outlines of rock patterns with their structural points created in recycled wire. She then weaves her patterns through various fibres of different material and colours to create what feels like a living embodiment of the surrounding nature.

If you are adventurous, you can get up close to smell the fibres, which adds a distinct aroma that enhances the visual experience.

Each one has captured millions of years of natural and human movement and the memories of what has passed through this region.

The one cyanotype print on cotton echoes the patterns of the ground through her creation. It’s like a mirror reflecting a memory of the shape of the land. Several are singular artworks, but it’s the multi-part ones where you can experience what it might be like to see how this earth was formed; how it’s cracked through time, shaped and holds the land together to create a fascinating history of place that almost every Australian has encountered.

We are not just surrounded by water in this country; we are surrounded by memory, and Keller captures this well.

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