Part of a pilot project supported by the Australian Government to trace connections between works from the National Portrait Collection and locally significant stories, this exhibition explores relationships between garments and the histories and knowledge systems of First Nations people.
In a series of workshops held throughout 2025, members of Logan’s community were invited to share reflections about their relationship to the area and consider how portraiture can connect us to place. The National Portrait Gallery’s collection was used to enrich and support this process, with participants selecting works that resonated with their own experiences. These workshops, and the selected artworks, became the starting point for Thread: Connecting stories and community, which was first shown at Logan Art Gallery from April to June 2026.
The exhibition features a series of 19th century prints by artist and draughtsman William Fernyhough depicting First Nations people wrapped in blankets, pointing to colonial policies that sought to suppress significant cultural practices such as the making of animal-skin cloaks. Among the historical works are contemporary photographs of influential Australians including David Gulpilil, Marcia Langton and Oodgeroo Noonuccal. These portraits are shown alongside existing and newly commissioned works by Logan-based artists, including Quandamooka woman (with cultural links to Eulo and the South Sea Islander community, Vanuatu) Kyra Mancktelow, Pamela See (Xue Mei Ling) and Sāmoan/Australian collective Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi.
Central to the exhibition are major new works created during its presentation at Logan Art Gallery: a possum-skin cloak made by Mancktelow in collaboration with her family, community and Elders; a large-scale photographic portrait of the cloak by the Ah Kuois; and delicate papercuts developed by See.
For thousands of years, clothing and body adornment have carried meaning, expressed identity and embedded wearers in culture and community. In this exhibition, ‘thread’ is both a material and an idea: something that can be sewn, woven and worn, but also something that ties stories and people together. The exhibition considers how the practice of making and wearing possum-skin cloaks, dilly bags, protest T-shirts and ochre hold memory and story.
Made with possum skins legally and ethically sourced from Aotearoa/New Zealand, the possum-skin cloak was sewn together in workshops and yarning circles led by Mancktelow, alongside Elders and community members. This making process created a space for First Nations knowledge holders to share culture and connect with Logan’s diverse communities. Later, a photographic portrait of a local Elder wearing the cloak surrounded by community members was taken by Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi. This dynamic new work evokes the journeys and migration patterns have shaped contemporary Logan.
Bree Pickering, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, said the commissioned works and the exhibition were the result of a collaboration conceived to develop new, community-led ways of working with a collection that belongs to all Australians. ‘Thread is an exhibition of both local and national significance. Using the National Portrait Collection as a starting point, the exhibition connects people and stories of the Logan area with some of the most influential Australians including David Gulpilil, Marcia Langton and Oodgeroo Noonuccal. This entirely new way of sharing the collection centres local communities within the national story.’
Co-curators, Logan-based Ruha Fifita and Dr Emma Kindred of the National Portrait Gallery said the evolving and collaborative nature of the project opened up new ways of thinking about the National Portrait Collection. ‘Through the process of deep listening and collaboration, we have been able to tease out stories from the collection that were laying dormant. Engaging local Logan-based artists at different times throughout the project has extended these insights and we look forward to seeing how visitors to the National Portrait Gallery respond to these stories.’
Supported by the Australian Government, Thread: Connecting stories and community is the culmination of a new, community-led approach to sharing the collection.
Thread: Connecting stories and community is free and on show at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra from 4 July until 13 September 2026.
