Jessika Spencer
Jessika Spencer and her creation Ancestor
Jessika Spencer is a Wiradjuri fibre artist currently based on Ngunnawal, Ngambri Country in Canberra. She works under the name Ngurru, which is the Wiradjuri language word for river reeds, and says that this her “favourite native reed to create with”.
Jessika’s work is grounded in Wiradjuri coiling and weaving traditions. She extends these techniques into contemporary forms, including sculptural baskets, large wall hangings, adornment, and installations.
Jessika has always been a maker, primarily a weaver and fibre artist. Her weaving practice began in childhood and has grown through years of learning with family, Aboriginal women from different communities, cultural exchanges, and workshops. She describes her knowledge as cumulative, shaped by many teachers and always acknowledged as shared rather than owned.
Jessika says she pours her activism into her artwork and classes. “Being an Aboriginal woman, my art is very much so a stance of sovereignty and self-determination,” she said. “I see weaving as a purposeful act of decolonisation and resistance. Reclaiming fibre practices that were forcibly taken and removed is healing. Practising the techniques that were created by ancestors are not only healing, but empowering.”
Jessika recently travelled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to attend the International Folk Art Market where she was awarded the Innovation in Sustainability award for her work Ngurambang. This award is important to Jessika as it reflects her view on the future of craft practice in Australia. She believes that craft is both “evolving and returning”.
“I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of creatives, and I can see a real surge in the return to slower crafts made by hand. It is the artists and creatives who are wanting to use natural resources that aren’t going to harm country”.
Find out more about Jessika’s work by following her at https://www.instagram.com/ngur.ru/