Aboriginal Art Co is proud to present Medicine Woven Through the Tide, the first solo exhibition by Quandamooka artist Kieron Anderson.

Developed through the OCCUPY Artist Residency, this new body of work brings together ceramics, carving, painting and moving image to explore Kieron’s relationship with saltwater Country, ancestral knowledge and the living systems that have sustained Quandamooka people for countless generations.

At the heart of the exhibition is the dugong (Bagirang). More than a source of nourishment, Bagirang is understood as a teacher, a yuri and a keeper of ecological knowledge. Its movements through seagrass meadows, the rhythms of the tides and the seasonal cycles of saltwater Country speak to generations of observation, patience, responsibility and reciprocity.

For Kieron, these relationships are deeply personal.

Returning to Quandamooka Country as a teenager, he began learning from the men in his community and reconnecting with knowledge that had always remained within Country. Medicine Woven Through the Tide reflects this continuing journey—of listening, learning, making and carrying cultural knowledge forward through contemporary practice.

Medicine within Country

Throughout the exhibition, Kieron considers medicine not as something simply taken or extracted from the landscape, but as something held within relationships.

Medicine can be found in the movement of the tide, the regeneration of seagrass, food, cultural practice, community and the passing of knowledge between generations. Country is not a backdrop to these relationships - it is living, teaching and sustaining.

Across ceramic sculptures of dugongs, a carved wooden sculpture, paintings and projection, Kieron explores these interconnected systems and the ways knowledge can be remembered through practice.

Together, the works form an active archive of knowledge and kinship - connecting human and non-human life, past and present, cultural memory and contemporary practice.

From residency to first solo exhibition 

Medicine Woven Through the Tide was developed through Kieron’s participation in the OCCUPY Artist Residency. OCCUPY is a Vacant Assembly residency and Aboriginal Art Co supports 2 First Nations artists to undertake the residency each year. Kieron's was the first that we have supported and it was generously funded via Blaklash. 

The residency provided dedicated time and space for Kieron to experiment, develop new work and extend his practice across different materials and forms. The resulting exhibition marks an important milestone: his first solo exhibition.

More than an exhibition outcome, the works speak to cultural continuity and the enduring presence of saltwater Country. They remind us that knowledge is not fixed in history. It continues to live through practice, ecological stewardship, relationships and the responsibility to care for Country.

Artist Statement

"Medicine Woven Through the Tide explores the intimate relationship between saltwater Country, ancestral knowledge, and the living systems that have sustained Quandamooka people for countless generations. The exhibition considers medicine not as something extracted from the landscape, but as something embodied within reciprocal relationships between people, animals, plants, tides, and the ocean. Through sculpture, installation, and natural materials, this body of works reflect on the ways knowledge is carried through Country, remembered through practice, and renewed through continued cultural connection.

Central to the exhibition is the dugong, Bagirang whose presence extends beyond its role as a source of nourishment. It is a teacher, a yuri and a keeper of ecological knowledge. Its movements across seagrass meadows, the rhythms of the tides, and the seasonal cycles of saltwater Country form patterns that have long guided cultural practice. These patterns speak of observation, patience, responsibility, and reciprocity- ways of knowing that cannot be separated from the places in which they were formed.

The title, Medicine Woven Through the Tide, reflects the understanding that healing is embedded within Country itself. Medicine exists in the movement of the tide, in the regeneration of seagrass, in the continuation of cultural practice, and in the stories that connect generations across time. The tide becomes both a physical and metaphorical force, carrying memory, sustaining life, and returning knowledge to those who remain in relationship with the ocean and land.

This body of work is an active archive of knowledge and kinship. The woven forms throughout the exhibition echo the interconnectedness of these relationships, between human and non-human life, between past and present, and between cultural memory and contemporary practice. Each work becomes a gesture of care, acknowledging that the knowledge of food as medicine is not fixed in history but continues to live through cultural continuity, ecological stewardship, and the enduring presence of saltwater Country.

Medicine Woven Through the Tide is an expression of belonging. It reflects a personal journey of returning to ancestral knowledge while recognising that such knowledge has always remained within Country, waiting for me to return to Quandamooka country as a teenager and embody the teachings in my community. The exhibition honours the resilience of Indigenous knowledge systems and affirms that healing begins with relationship… To Country, to community, and to the tides that continue to carry life from one generation to the next." - Kieron Anderson, 2026. 

Medicine Woven Through the Tide
Kieron Anderson
Aboriginal Art Co, Gallery 2 – Ground Level