Kay Lawrence’s elegant tapestry responds to Central Bougainville artist Adelaide Mekea Aniona’s comment at the Womens Wealth Workshop.

Here we are not wives, we are not mothers or grandmothers, we are just women doing what we love to do. Here we are sisters.

Woven as three long strips the work draws on the textile and storytelling traditions of Lawrence’s own European cultural heritage where intricately woven tapestries recorded important collective histories and mythologies. ‘Here we are sisters’ references the often-collaborative nature of these creating textiles and their importance as ‘texts’, bringing together the names of each of the artists who participated in the workshop. Coloured yarns referencing the clothes and fabrics worn by each individual during the week have been carefully selected and then woven into the name of each woman and its background capturing a sense of their distinct personality.