Dwell

Image | Suzanne Knight Through the Garden Gate (series of 3) 2026 | Photography Brenton McGeachie

Exhibition Statement
Dwell presents a body of tapestry weavings by Suzanne Knight that explores the intertwined histories of migration, settlement and ecological change. Shaped as discarded plastic bottles, these woven forms examine the ways introduced plants, materials and settler traditions have become embedded within Australian landscapes, while reflecting on the layered relationships between domestic life, consumer culture and environmental transformation.

These works are woven from raw-spun and repurposed wool, and naturally dyed fibres using colour extracted from invasive weeds including ivy, St John's wort, hawthorn, briar rose, mullein, dandelion and thistle. Often introduced to recreate familiar European landscapes, these plants become both subject and material, their pigments embedded within the weavings. Other works draw on the native vegetation of the Murrumbidgee River corridor, recalling the pre-colonial riverbanks and open woodlands that were progressively displaced by pastoral settlement. Woven using raw merino wool, these ghostly forms reference both the original ecology and the sheep industry that transformed it.

Recurring tartan patterns reference Scottish textile traditions, migration and the colonial wool economy, while their colours are drawn from the local landscape, grounding inherited cultural histories in place. Garden gates become thresholds between cultivated and wild spaces, marking the movement of plants, people and ideas across landscapes.

The bottle forms evoke contemporary still life, symbolising consumption, containment, urban expansion and the enduring presence of plastic within the environment—another introduced material that continues to spread and persist. Dwell invites reflection on the layered histories that have shaped contemporary Australia and the plants, objects, traditions and memories that now dwell because of us.

(Note: “A continuous thread” made in response to the Lanyon Homestead as part of the Lanyon Prize 2025. The “Through the garden gate” series began in March 2026 when the artist took part in the Mount Wilson Artist in Residence program https://www.mtwilson.com.au/artist-in-residence )

Artist Statement
Over the past decade, I have developed contemporary tapestry weaving as my primary art practice alongside natural dyeing, painting, drawing and printmaking. My work investigates the relationships between ecology, migration, consumerism and cultural inheritance, exploring how natural and human-made environments shape one another. Through recurring themes of movement, containment and transformation, I consider the interconnected histories of landscape, domestic life and environmental change.

My process begins with gouache studies that guide the choice of yarn colours in the weaving. Working primarily with raw-spun and repurposed donated wool, and fibres dyed with colours extracted from locally available invasive and native plants, the tapestries are embedded with the physical presence of place and community.

My work often reimagines familiar domestic objects and materials. Still life objects appear as shaped tapestries, often arranged on supermarket-like shelves, addressing issues of consumerism, waste, single-use plastics, landfill, and climate change. Places of interest include pastoral landscapes, ocean migrations, rivers and gardens as sites of connection, carrying plastics, people, birds and plants across landscapes and between ecosystems. These movements reveal the complex ways materials, histories and ecological systems become entangled over time.

Rather than presenting fixed distinctions between nature and culture, or between the domestic and the wild, I am interested in the spaces in between, where these boundaries become blurred and seep into each other. Through weaving, I seek to create contemplative works that invite reflection on our relationship with the environments we inhabit, the histories we inherit, and the traces we leave behind.

Artist Biography
Suzanne Knight is a Canberra artist living on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country, with nineteenth century settler ancestry from Murrumbateman, Millthorpe, Brindabella and Sofala, NSW. She grew up in Padstow, Sydney on Bidjigal/Dgarug Country.

She completed undergraduate (1992) and postgraduate research (1996) degrees at the Canberra School of Art.

Drawing is central to her practice which also includes tapestry weaving, natural dyeing, woodblock and lithography, and painting.

Recent exhibitions and awards include selection for the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize (2026), the Wollongong Art Prize (2025), the London Art Fair and Collect Craft Fair, London (2023), and three finalist selections in the Still National Still Life Award (2019, 2023 and 2025). She has also completed residencies in Darwin, Mount Wilson and Japan through Asialink.

Suzanne has had a varied employment history, working as a community artist and lithographic editioning printmaker (Studio One, Canberra and Northern Editions, Darwin), a sessional academic at the School of Art, Australian National University (1994 to 1999) and lecturer, School of Art and Design, Charles Darwin University (1999 to 2004). Since 2004 she worked as a senior manager at the Research School of Humanities and the Arts, ANU, most recently as School Manager, School of Art and Design and School of Music, ANU (2020 to 2025).

Recently retired she is now enjoying concentrating on her art practice full time.