Notions of Care #2: Katie West on meditation, conversation and decolonisation

“I was thinking about meditation as being a way of creating calm and openness so that more constructive conversation can happen,” says Katie West in the second episode of Notions of Care.

In our latest podcast, West talks about dyeing textiles, creating spaces of meditation, and facing experiences of racism—all in a conversation centred on care and creating, linking with the NETS Victoria touring exhibition, Notions of Care at Ararat Gallery TAMA.

The show features five artists and groups to consider care in art making, through materials, how we relate to one another, and as an approach to the world.

West is a Yindjibarndi Western Australian artist, based in Noongar Ballardong country in Western Australia. She exhibits incredibly moving installations, which often feature dyed textiles and native plants which are sewn and woven.

In 2016 as part of Next Wave Festival she exhibited the work Decolonist, which looks at how meditation can be a way to decolonise the self. And she later extended on this for a stunning installation at TarraWarra Museum of Art, giving audiences a space to meditate and contemplate.

Now, her work in Notions of Care could be described as a tea installation, and she talks through this work and how it came about. We also talk about what the concept of care means to her, how she came to meditating and bringing this into the gallery space, and the process of walking, gathering, and dyeing the materials for her textiles.

West also talks about the experiences of racism she has faced, and her words of encouragement to other people who have had similar experiences.

You can listen back to the first episode of Notions of Care with Kate Tucker.

Notions Of Care
Ararat Gallery TAMA
Until 26 February 2023

A kind thank you to our sponsors for this series. The show Notions of Care is a Bus Projects exhibition touring with NETS Victoria, which is curated by Kathryne Genevieve Honey and Nina Mulhall. This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and received assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund 2020, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

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Produced and presented by Tiarney Miekus, engineering by Patrick Telfer, and music by Mino Peric.

Episode source