29/09/2026
Experience Elisa Jane Carmichael’s work, ‘a search for meaning is to absorb the abundance of beauty in nature’ is now showing at Connections: MCA x Tate at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.’
leeceecarmichael
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
‘a search for meaning is to absorb the abundance of beauty in nature’ connects to Carmichael’s saltwater identity and culture. It centres on her ancestral knowledge, matrilineal connections and a deep relationship to the Quandamooka lands and waters, which include Mulgumpin (Moreton Island), Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and the mainland coast. Country and culture are present in the work, from its incorporation of natural materials that have been sourced on ancestral lands to the intense blue of the cyanotype that is evocative of the deep waters that connect all across Quandamooka Country.
Elisa Jane states, “This installation captures the light and the spirit of those before us and the heart of our Saltwater Country Through the use of fish scales and talwapin, the hands of our ancestors are woven into a net of life.”
‘Connections: MCA x Tate’ is now showing until March 1, 2027. For more information and to view Elisa Jane Carmichaels other works, visit our website at the link in our bio.
Image 1: Elisa Jane Carmichael, a search for meaning is to absorb the abundance of beauty in nature, 2021, installation view Connections: MCA x Tate, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2026, fish scales, talwalpin (cotton tree), cotton, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2021 © the artist, photograph: Hamish McIntosh
Image 2: Left to right: Esme Timbery, Shellworked slippers, 2008 (detail), shell, glitter, fabric, cardboard, glue, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2008; Elisa Jane Carmichael, a search for meaning is to absorb the abundance of beauty in nature, 2021, fish scales, talwalpin (cotton tree), cotton, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2021, installation view Connections: MCA x Tate, Museum of Contemporary Art Austra