UPCOMING
GRACE PUNDYK EXHIBITION
SOUVENIR: THE TRACE OF THREADS
RENATA ART DESIGN will be presenting a solo exhibition of Grace Pundyk’s latest oeuvre titled “souvenir: the trace of threads”.
ABOUT
THE EXHIBITION
souvenir: the trace of threads
Once upon a time, in the latter half of the 20th century, a large proportion of Australian souvenir linen – tea towels, tablecloths, napkins – was hand-screen printed in Poland. To most, that place of manufacture was insignificant. Those ubiquitous cloth mementoes were and still are uniquely Australian. With their colourful native flora and fauna, iconic locations, industry, sport, culture and appropriated Indigenous art how could they represent anything else?
But if you look carefully, another story starts to unfold. The tiny ‘Made in Poland’ labels, stitched on the underside and the ‘Pure Linen, Hand Printed, Fast Colours’ labels stuck on the front are telltale signs. Then consider the quality of the linen, the pallete of colours used on the designs, and the overall production, and you are undeniably transported into a world that speaks as much to Poland’s rich textile heritage as it does to the country’s decades-long changing fortunes (and misfortunes) from the post-war period, through to communist control and its downfall.
‘souvenir: the trace of threads’ is a series of textile-based works that takes these Polish-made Australian souvenir linens on a journey of transformation, renewal and restoration to explore a different kind of remembering extending across cultures, geographies and generations.
DATES OF EXHIBITION
TBC
OPENING
TBC
ABOUT THE ARTIST
DR. GRACE PUNDYK
Dr Grace Pundyk is a Melbourne-based artist, author, choreographer and scholar living on the lands of the Woi-wurrung and Boon-wurrung.
Her work – both artistic and scholarly – is interdisciplinary with a memory and intercultural focus, and seeks to blur the boundaries of identity, belonging, death and the beyond through ritual and an honouring of the natural environment.
Grace’s ongoing project, Heirloom, the work of which features in her current show ‘souvenir: the trace of threads’, utilises vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), Japanese linen and silk thread and materials from the natural world to connect and sustain matrilineal threads across generations, cultures and continents.
In addition to exhibiting/performing her work in solo and group shows across Australia, Poland, Ukraine and Chile, she has published books and book chapters with St Martin’s Press, New York; Jagiellonian University Press; Polish Academy of Sciences; and Routledge.
Grace has undertaken research at the Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie (National Museum of Ethnography) and Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru w Białymstoku (Sybir Memorial Museum) and continues further research in her capacity as Visiting Fellow at the Centre of European Studies, Australian National University.
LOCATION
TBC
EXHIBITION INSTALLATION
COMING SOON
ART WORK GALLERY
ART STORE COMING SOON
Eight-fold, 2025
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), Japanese silk organzine thread, shosenshi linen thread, 23kt gold leaf, beeswax
60 x 60 x 10 cm
Sahasraha, 2026
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), found joey rib bones, 23ct gold leaf, beeswax, silk organzine thread, shosenshi linen paper thread
40 x 40 x 15 cm
Miniature Wianek #1, 2026
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), shosenshi linen thread, Japanese silk ribbon, beeswax
12 x 20 cm approx.
Miniature Wianek #2, 2026
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), shosenshi linen thread, Japanese silk ribbon, beeswax
12 x 20 cm approx.
Miniature Wianek #3, 2026
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), shosenshi linen thread, Japanese silk ribbon, beeswax
12 x 12 cm approx.
Miniature Wianek #4, 2026
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), shosenshi linen thread, Japanese silk ribbon, beeswax
12 x 12 cm approx.
Manipura, 2025
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), 23ct gold leaf, beeswax, Japanese silk thread and ribbon, shosenshi linen paper thread
55 x 55 x 10 cm
Muladhara, 2025
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), shosenshi linen thread, beeswax, 23ct gold leaf
55 x 55 x 10 cm
Wianek #3, 2024
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen ‘Made in Poland, shigoki linen paper thread, silk cocoons, Japanese silk organzine thread, beeswax, cornstarch, wire
25 x 25 x 17 cm
A Thousand Petals, 2025
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen ‘Made in Poland, shosenshi linen paper thread, beeswax, Japanese silk organzine thread, 24ct gold leaf; 24ct triple twist gold leaf thread, cornstarch, wire
148 x 45 x 12 cm
Wianek #4, 2024
Vintage Australiana souvenir linen ‘Made in Poland’, shosenshi linen paper thread, kumihimo silk-wrapped silver thread, beeswax, 24ct gold leaf, cornstarch, wire
70 x 22 x 20 cm
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
JOIN US AT THE UPCOMING ARTIST EVENT | DETAILS TO COME SOON
