Workshop // Stitching and Storytelling with Elizabeth Day
Description
Workshop // Stitching and Storytelling with Elizabeth Day
Wednesday 15 July 2026, 6-8pm
$35 members, $40 non-members, 18+ workshop, RSVP essential
Join BRAG and cross-disciplinary artist Elizabeth Day for a relaxed stitching and storytelling workshop about places and buildings in Bathurst.
Elizabeth Day attempts to ‘unravel’ stories inherent in our early colonial history. She ‘draws’ with unravelled op shop garments, muslin and stitching.
Invisible Worlds/Invisible Words is a work in the exhibition that considers the memories and stories that a prison wall or other convict architecture might hold. The arrival of the prison meant that Indigenous people were confronted with a legal system that was alien to them. The work also recognises the individuality of stone carvers who were responsible for the building of early architecture around Australian towns including Bathurst. The individuality is manifest in the huge variety of mark making one finds on chipped stones. It would be great to hear from those in the community who remember two or three generations of Bathurst history, but young participants very welcome. Indigenous story-tellers very welcome also.
This workshop is suitable for adults only.
What to bring:
Participants can bring their own preferred stitching media, but story-telling textiles will be provided.
Please bring stories, memories and photographs that can be a starting point for the workshop.
About the exhibition
The Fragility of Goodness: The Prison on the Landscape and Other Stories
Elizabeth Day’s survey exhibition at BRAG examines the legacy of Empire and the colonisation of Australia and its First Nations peoples. The exhibition focuses on the lasting impact of colonial prison systems and how these institutions reshaped both landscape and society.
The project connects closely to Bathurst’s history as part of a network of colonial prison towns established west of the Blue Mountains. Day has explored these themes in earlier works: in 2023, she presented There’s a Reason Beyond a Reason, 1797 Parramatta Gaol at The National 4 at Carriageworks, Redfern. This large-scale textile installation was made from unravelled second-hand garments and referenced early colonial prison architecture. Through the slow process of unravelling fabric, the work suggested the possibility of undoing the prison’s imprint on the landscape.
This exhibition invites reflection on systems of justice, power and repair.
Getting Here
BRAG is located in the heart of Bathurst on Wiradjuri Country in the Central West of NSW.
Entry is via the Gallery/Library forecourt located at 70-78 Keppel Street. BRAG is accessible by public transport.
Victoria Pass Closure: A detour is currently in place on the Great Western Highway following the closure of Victoria Pass in both directions - but don't let that halt your road-trip adventure as there are Other Ways to the West. The region is still very much open for business, and there are some genuinely spectacular ways to get here.
Accessibility
Venue Access Information: Click here for more information
If you wish to discuss requirements before visiting the gallery, please feel free to contact us on 02 6333 6555 or email us at brag@bathurst.nsw.gov.au
Banner image: Elizabeth Day in Carriageworks’ Clothing Store Studios, where she was artist-in-residence from 2021-2023. Photo: Jacquie Manning.
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