With visionary foresight, the founding team behind Ararat Gallery in the late 1960s and early 1970s established textiles as a defining focus of the Gallery’s collection. Taking inspiration from Ararat’s historical association with fine merino wool production, the Gallery has remained committed to exhibiting and collecting textile and fibre art. Fifty years on, the enduring influence of the craft revival movement continues to affirm the cultural relevance and renewed appeal of textiles.

In 2024, textiles featured prominently in major international exhibitions, including at the Barbican in London, and at an Australian state level at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. Long recognised as a radical and subversive medium, textiles continue to command critical attention. Ararat Gallery TAMA occupies a distinctive and timely position in today’s cultural landscape through its sustained commitment to textile-based collections and exhibitions.

Ararat Gallery TAMA is proud custodian of over a thousand artworks and objects, including quilts, tapestries, basketry, embroideries, sculpture and weavings. This exhibition includes the two newest acquisitions to the TAMA Collection: guuma-li / Gathering by Juanita McLauchlan and Beyond Homeostasis by Kasia Töns.