WA Artists Print Their Heritage Onto Silk at Major Showcase

Ebony Pierik laughed when asked a year ago if her artwork would ever hang in a major gallery. Today, her glowing pink and gold silk prints fill the main room at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art.

The Jabirr Jabirr and Baard woman started learning block printing just twelve months ago as a way to reconnect with her Country after growing up away from Broome. She carves designs by hand into blocks, inspired by patterns she sees walking on the beach during oyster season or studying algae on the reefs.

"This journey is about reconnecting with my Country and with my culture and with my family," Pierik says. She's one of four artists from Nagula Jarndu women's art centre chosen for Revealed, an annual showcase of emerging Aboriginal artists from across Western Australia.

The exhibition, now in its 18th year, brings together traditional and contemporary Aboriginal art from remote communities and urban centers alike. Curator Zali Morgan says visitors can see everything from ancient creation stories to bold responses about climate change, all under one roof.

What makes this year extra special for Pierik is sharing the gallery walls with family. Her grandmother, Rowena Puertollano, displays her own silk prints just steps away, telling stories her mother shared about Baard Country up the Dampier Peninsula.

Puertollano only started block printing two years ago. She carves images of Blue Bone fish with fluorescent blue skeletons, dugongs, turtles and jellyfish onto three-meter panels of silk, honoring the marine creatures central to her mother's connection to Country.

"When we were growing up, she always told us stories about where she came from," Puertollano explains. Each carved block preserves those memories about how rocks formed and sea creatures got their features.

The Ripple Effect

Revealed does more than showcase beautiful art. For many artists working in very remote communities, it's the first time their work leaves their house or art center. The exhibition launches careers and connects artists with buyers who know 100 percent of proceeds go directly to creators.

The accompanying art market lets thousands of people browse and purchase work straight from the artists themselves. It creates an informal space where traditional dot painting and contemporary experimental pieces sit side by side, showing that Aboriginal art isn't one single style.

For Pierik, seeing her algae-inspired prints hanging in PICA feels unreal. She dreams of turning her designs into clothing someday, but for now, she's soaking in this moment of exhibiting alongside her cousin and "granny."

Art is healing the distance she once felt from home, one hand-carved block at a time.