Summary

Tapestry panel titled 'Home Sweet Home', designed by artist Murray Walker, with contributing artists Mirka Mora, Bruce Petty, child artist Charlotte Walker and images sourced from mail order catalogues 1890-1915. It suggests the home has always been central to the Australian way of life. It is the sixth panel of ten in the Federation Tapestry Suite woven by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop (known as the Australian Tapestry Workshop since 2010), to mark the Centenary of Federation in 2001.

The central image of Federation House is one devoid of people, a 'see through house' as represented by the blue sky visible through its windows and beyond, posing the question: 'Does a house represent stability, or an illusion of stability?'

Period catalogue illustrations of people dressed in fashionable clothing and a present-day child's drawing are used to humanise this strange emptiness. Mirka Mora's vignettes at either corner of the panel bring added warmth.

At the bottom of the panel, Bruce Petty has drawn an architectural timeline of Australian homes from early settlement, ranging from tents to a boom-time mansion complete with an early motorcar.

The challenge for the weavers was to bring together the disparate elements of the design: Mirka Mora's lyrically painted portraits, finely drawn lithographic images from mail order catalogues, a contemporary colour photograph of an Edwardian house and Bruce Petty's quirky black pen renderings of past house styles.

Physical Description

Rectangular tapestry featuring various images of Australian home-life. In the centre is a federation house, coloured white, orange and brown, with a blue and light purple sky above. Surrounding are images of people dressed in period costume. An inscription in black is woven along the upper edge. Across the lower edge are black line drawings of Australian homes from early settlement, against a yellow background.

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