MATERIAL FLOW Wool & Water Festival28 August — 22 September 2019Museum in the Park, Stroud, EnglandCurator: Patricia Brien

Australia’s colonial history spills into the present. The threads that tie Australia and England are clear, but how they have affected each place is not always in plain sight. This work makes visible the stories from elsewhere which are bound through matter and action to each other. Mayo uses both sides of two woollen blankets to carry stories of the wool industry and the toll it took on the Australian environment and First Nations people while providing raw material to England. The destruction of murrnong (Yam Daisy), a staple food for people whose land stretched across the plains from Melbourne to South Australia, was especially crippling. And yet, the wool itself, old, moth eaten and lovingly repaired, speaks of care, belonging and place.