Gomeroi/Kamilaroi artist Clare Jaque Vasquez is one of the finalists in the 2024 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
In a conversation with NITV Radio, Ms Jaque Vasquez revealed that her entry in the awards -Take me Home - was inspired by her grandmother’s story and the powerful symbolism of a bag that she always carried around.
“My grandmother carried her woven bag across many decades on Country. Her bag becomes a threshold to the beyond, holding the gateway to the surreal, where the rules of existence bend and sway. A portal between worlds, a little vessel that held the weight of the world, containing her maps and childhood memories,” Clare Jaque Vasquez said.
She further elaborated on her art practice saying that her works capture stories and weaving practices in a raised textural form leveraging natural and contemporary art tools and to apply texture.