New Footscray Hospital Tapestry Celebrates Halfway Point

Celebrating the halfway point of the new Footscray Hospital tapestry, Plenary Health recently hosted an event at the Australian Tapestry Workshop.  

Artists Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/ Boonwurrung) and Mitch Mahoney (Boonwurrung/Barkindji) spoke to their inspiration for ‘Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible’. The design incorporates microscopic images of river reeds from the nearby Maribyrnong River and skeletal drawings of local native flora and fauna.  

In collaboration with the Australian Tapestry Workshop, the artwork will transform into a tapestry spanning two levels of the hospital’s main entrance to welcome all visitors.  

A team of 10 weavers have spent more than 4000 hours hand-weaving the 4.2 x 10 metre tapestry using more than 360 coloured yarns.  

The tapestry is a joint project between Plenary Health, delivering the new hospital in partnership with the Victorian Health Building Authority and Western Health, along with the hospital’s arts partner Footscray Community Arts, the Australian Tapestry Workshop and the Tapestry Foundation of Australia.

Learn about the tapestry at: https://www.austapestry.com.au