Chimera: Extinct / Endangered

Artwork is ready to hang - attached with velcro to wood hanger with D-rings and wire
Made up of 5 smaller tapestries attached together and hung from the top

FINALIST - Tatiara Art Prize 2021

On a recent visit to the South Australian Museum, I was shocked to see the number of native Australian animals who have become extinct as well as the growing number that are endangered.

The fauna that is indigenous to our country is unique and rare. In the not too distant future many species will only be a distant memory, represented only by their skeletons. Inspired by the chimera in the SA Museum, I have recreated the skeletal remains of some of our endangered and extinct species expressed through this woven tapestry piece.
Included in this piece:
Head: Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine)
Ribcage: Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii)
Front ‘leg’: Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
Back leg: Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
Tail: Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (Petrogale penicillata)

Follow

Michelle Driver is a South Australian artist working exclusively in handwoven tapestry. Her practice is grounded in slow labour, repetition, and material discipline, approaching tapestry as a rigorous studio practice rather than a decorative craft.

Her work is shaped by queerness, neurodiversity, and lived experience of trauma, and often draws on gothic aesthetics and unsettling narrative. Through weaving, she explores shadow, memory, and the tension between obedience and refusal, revealing beauty within what is overlooked or difficult to name.

Driver’s work has been recognised nationally, including winning the 2016 Port Pirie Art Prize and inclusion in Radical Textiles at the Art Gallery of South Australia.