Reclamation | Jessika Spencer (Wiradjuri)

Image | Jessika Spencer River Reeds 2026 | Photography by Jessika Spencer

Catalogue | Buy the Work | Room Sheet

Exhibition Statement

Reclamation continues Wiradjuri artist Jessika Spencer’s exploration of Indigenous feminine knowledge systems and material practice. Flowing on from her recent exhibition Rematriate, this body of work reflects a process of returning to softer ways and focusing on the quiet strength Aboriginal women have always carried.

Working across weaving, adornment, eco dyed textiles, photography and sculptural installation, the exhibition brings together woven coolamons, water carriers, reclaimed textile works and contemporary adornments that speak to survival, continuity and connection to Country.

Natural materials gathered from Country remain central throughout the exhibition. River reeds, raffia, shells, palm fibre and reclaimed fabrics are transformed through weaving, knotting and eco dyeing processes that honour cultural practises.

Historically, woven objects such as coolamons, dillybags and water carriers were not decorative objects, but essential cultural technologies tied to gathering, medicine, motherhood and survival. By reinterpreting these forms through contemporary installation and adornment, Reclamation honours ancestral knowledge while asserting its continued relevance within contemporary Indigenous life.

At its core, the exhibition is an act of reclamation, reclaiming space, ways of thinking, practice and cultural continuity through making.

Artist Biography/Biographies

Jessika Spencer is a Wiradjuri woman currently based on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. Her practice weaves together traditional and contemporary fibre art techniques. Drawn to slow, ancestral processes, her artistic expression is hands on, with weaving, writing, and photography as her primary mediums.

Sustainability, land care, and cultural heritage are at the heart of Jessika’s practice. The materials she uses are biodegradable and respectfully gathered from Country.

Empowerment and self determination underpin everything Jessika creates. Each work is an act of cultural strength and personal sovereignty.

Artist Statement

'I am a Wiradjuri weaver, artist and activist living and working on Ngunnawal, Ngambri Country. My practice is grounded in fibre art, adornment and material storytelling, exploring the intersections between culture, memory, identity and contemporary Indigenous expression.

Working across weaving, eco dyeing, photography and installation, I create works using natural and reclaimed materials including river reeds, raffia, shells, palm fibre, seed pods and recycled textiles. These materials are carefully gathered and worked with slowly and intentionally, holding deep connections to cultural knowledge and the labour of Aboriginal women.

My practice is deeply informed by traditional weaving techniques and cultural objects such as coolamons, dillybags and water carriers, forms that historically carried medicine, food, babies, tools and story.

Through contemporary fibre practice, I explore the reclamation of Indigenous knowledge systems and the ongoing presence of Aboriginal cultural practices within modern life.

At the centre of my practice is the act of return, returning to Country, to ancestral knowledge, to making with the hands, and to the stories carried within material.'