Catalogue essay for Making Canberra exhibition
View the catalogue here.

In these unprecedented times, crafting has become symptomatic of our city’s desire for a tangible sense of care and closeness. Physical acts of making disrupt the apathetic patterns of simply looking that we often fall into in our busy lives. Whether it be through making a meal, working in the garden or writing a letter – physically creating is a healing process that is intrinsically reflective of the care that we have for ourselves and each other.

Canberra is a living design laboratory that has passed through the hands of a rich history of carers and makers. The city sits on land that is rooted in a tradition of caring for Country. Canberra has been birthed through a culture of caring for place, people and culture with its name being derived from the language of the original custodians of the land. Canberra was deliberately designed to be the nation’s capital, crafted with a vision of being ‘the finest capital city in the world’. The dreamt capital was conceived in 1913 by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin who won an international competition to create the ideal city. The national capital is home to artists, designers and craftspeople who are often nationally and internationally acclaimed but choose to work, live and make here.

There is an inherent need in each individual to craft and to care. In 2020, a time of social isolation and separation, this group of exhibiting artists have drawn upon the city itself in order to craft material manifestations of care. Their works remind us of the need to appreciate the physical world around us and the expressions of care woven into this city by design. This exhibition unites an eclectic array of iconography of both urban design and natural landscape which make Canberra.

Making Canberra celebrates the local designers who have drawn from our city’s built heritage, connection to nature, and icons in their work.

Vy Tsan
Craft ACT, Content Coordinator