Kyra Mancktelow
Kyra Mancktelow’s multidisciplinary practice investigates legacies of colonialism, posing important questions such as how we remember and acknowledge Australian histories.
A Quandamooka artist with links to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla and South Sea Islanders, Vanuatu. Kyra’s practice includes printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture – each applying a unique and distinct aesthetic. Kyra works with various materials to share her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences and strengthen her connection to Country and Culture. Her printmaking explores intergenerational trauma.
A Quandamooka artist with links to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla and South Sea Islanders, Vanuatu. Kyra’s practice includes printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture – each applying a unique and distinct aesthetic. Kyra works with various materials to share her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences and strengthen her connection to Country and Culture. Her printmaking explores intergenerational trauma.
Artist statement
This printed garment investigates long-lasting legacies of colonialism that encapsulates invisible codes of incarceration. This allows us to ask questions such as how we remember and acknowledge the South Sea Islander presence within Queensland’s landscape and the sugar industry.
The fabric used to create this Hard Work (sugar) Garment is Tarleton which traditionally is used to remove coloured ink from the etching plate—dichotomously this acts as a metaphor of scratching away cultural ways and identity.
My hope is to draw upon the strength of our South Sea Islander ways and cultural identity by interrupting the colonial narrative by replacing the western tools with traditional objects from the museum collection.