Lara Tilbrook’s exhibition Gami Mawarnarra, translates to “the presence of your people, right here, right now” in the Nharangga language.

For Lara Tilbrook, they evoke a living feeling of a wind with no yesterday, her Mother’s and Grandmother’s presence, a remembering of spirit in place. Together with her daughter, Tilbrook presents an installation of adornments and objects from their homeland on Karta Pintingga (Kangaroo Island). Grounded in healing, gathered together, to carry through generational inheritance to honour her matriarchs, the ancestral essence of her home.

Guided by Elders, Tilbrook works to restore the health and identity of the land through the careful removal of thick, invasive understoreys that blanket the Country, suppressing growth and biodiversity. This work is grounded in reciprocity: clearing fuel loads while listening to and caring for the spirit and memories held within Country.

From the cleared plants, Tilbrook has developed a library of materials, brewed over the fire into dye pots, to generate palettes of colour from the landscape. Through her practice, she labours and weaves with love to rehabilitate connection, shift narratives and return new yarns to the land.

Through her practice, Tilbrook listens to the ‘Old Ways’ to care for Country, inviting us all to sit, ask questions, and consider how we might work together to revive her Grandmother’s Country.

EXHIBITION DATES

EXHIBITION CELEBRATION

This exhibition is presented as part of Radiant Pavilion. Lara Tilbrook is the 2026 First Peoples Artist in Residence. This residency is made possible through the Irene Davies Residency Scholarships, generously funded by Alayne Davies in memory of her mother, Irene Davies.