Werrun Wile GAN, soft possum gowns:
Kelly Koumalatsos

Kaliopi Christine (Kelly) Koumalatsos is an Aboriginal – Greek Australian artist. Horsham Regional Art Gallery is proud to present Werrin Wile Gan – Soft Possum Gowns an exhibition of signature works by the Wamba Wamba and Wergaia woman, who for more than thirty years, has been central to the revival of possum skin cloak‑making in southeast Australia.

This exhibition brings together contemporary prints from the artist’s personal collection and delicate paper textile installations borrowed from Museums Victoria. The dresses and work garments are reminiscent of those worn by women in Koumalatsos’ matrilineal line. To make these works, printmaking ink was rolled directly onto possum fur and the impression transferred to paper or tissue paper. These prints and paper-textile works are the result of decades of practice led experimentation with possum fur and with the cultural processes surrounding possum skin cloak creation.

The garments’ shifting styles, the contradictory fragility of tissue paper as garment, and the act of printing the fur’s texture – all work together to shape meaning. As printed fur, we are offered an impression only, an echo. In southeast Australian Aboriginal cultures, possum skin cloaks are identity-bearing garments, surfaces for story and providers of literal warmth. These works remove us from the tactile and cultural qualities of possum skin itself and invite us to consider what happens when cultural knowledge is transmuted through context, through the passage of time or through disrupted/broken family transfer.