Hindmarsh Prize 2017

JENNIFER KEMARRE MARTINIELLO
BUSH FLOWERS & SEEDPODS BICORNUAL #1
My intention is to appropriate the contemporary medium
of glass to become a vehicle for cultural expression.
A graduate of the ANU School of Art & Design,
Jenni Kemarre Martiniello is a prolific artist and
writer who has relatively recently taken up glass
as a medium. Bush Flowers & Seedpods Bicornual
#1 is a work inspired by the unique and beautiful
forms and colours of native blossoms and seedpods
distinct to Australian flora – in particular those of
Jenni’s grandmother’s country in Central Australia
and from places she herself has lived. Created
with murrine made by recycling complex triple and
double glass canes – sometimes recombined and
pulled multiple times – this work pays tribute to the
traditional bicornual form of woven baskets used
by women to collect medicine plants in far North
Queensland, and the larger men’s bicornuals used
in Southern Australia to carry large curved hunting
weapons.
As an Aboriginal (Arrernte) artist I seek to invoke the
organic ‘weaves’ and forms of traditional woven objects
such as eel traps, fish traps and dillibags in my hot blown
glass works, and pay tribute to the survival of the oldest
living weaving practices in the world. My intention is
to appropriate the contemporary medium of glass to
become a vehicle for cultural expression.
Jenni’s introduction to glass came during a group
residency at the Canberra Glassworks in 2008.
The residency program IndigiGlass08: Postcards
from the Referendum was created to mark the 40th
anniversary of the 1967 Referendum on Aboriginal
rights. Jenni was one of four artists involved who had
been working together as part of the Indigenous
Textile Artists Group. Following her move into
glass work Martiniello was a finalist in the 2011
Ranamok Glass Prize with her Eel Traps series. Her
works are now held in significant public and private
collections.
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