Onespace is thrilled to congratulate Sonja Carmichael on her first international solo exhibition Cammeerangan Ngalin-ngur Gining | From Our Ancestors’ Hands – Story Bags showing at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia from August 8 until January 10, 2027.
Presented as part of Sonja’s Creative Australia international residency, this exhibition marks a significant milestone in her practice. A Ngugi woman from Quandamooka Country, Sonja has been at the forefront of the regeneration of Quandamooka weaving, creating intricate woven gulayi (Quandamooka women’s bags) using traditional fibres, including ungaire (freshwater swamp reed), that grow throughout Saltwater Country. Each work honours Sonja’s ancestral knowledge, reflecting the enduring resilience of her culture and Country.
Cammeerangan Ngalin-ngur Gining, celebrates both Sonja’s artistic practice and her collaboration with Quandamooka Elders, family, and community, reclaiming and strengthening ancestral knowledge through weaving. By interlacing natural fibres with ghost nets and marine debris collected from the shores of Minjerribah, her gulayi become powerful symbols of cultural resilience and care for Country. Expertly weaving these materials together, Sonja’s work repurposes this debris and transforms it to represent the many ways we engage with the sacred waters that sustain us. Transforming these materials and healing the damage they otherwise cause to our environment and reflecting our shared responsibility to care for the sacred waterways that sustain us.
Sonja states, “It is with great honour that Cammeerangan Ngalin-ngur Gining | From Our Ancestors’ Hands – Story Bags opens soon at Kluge-Ruhe…very exciting! I’m thrilled to share work in my first international solo exhibition which draws on many stories connected to Quandamooka weaving and Country.”
Featuring major new works inspired by Giibum (the moon), the seasonal migration of Yalingbila (humpback whales), and the shores of Quandamooka Country, this exhibition explores the profound connections between memory, place and culture.
Onespace would like to thank the Kluge Ruhe team, Nici Cumpston, Eleanore Neumann, Laura Snyder and Jennifer Billingsly and Nicole Wade for all their work and dedication to bringing this exhibition together and thank Siera Hyte for writing a wonderful exhibition essay.
Image 1: Sonja Carmichael. Photo: Nikki Michail. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
Image 2: Glenn Carmichael. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
Image 3: Sonja Carmichael. Photo: Renata Buzak. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
Image 4: Sonja Carmichael, Wunjayi Wagaringya Quandamooka Jagun (Carrying Quandmooka Country Today)) – Yarabin Ragi (Sea and Bush) (detail), 2025. Photo: Louis Lim. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
Image 5: Sonja Carmichael. Photo: Renata Buzak. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace.
