Project Description

Artist: Carpet designs by Caleb Nichols-Mansell The strategic vision for the Inveresk campus and Library building had a focus on place, regionality and knowledge. Within this vision, the Library – seen as the intellectual heart of the campus, needed to be a welcoming, inspiring, open and safe environment for all. It was important that the Library reflected culture and identity and engaged with the Indigenous community through the creation of culturally safe spaces. The display of art and culture, as well as materials, finishes and colours that connected with, and spoke to Country became a tool for creating a building and interior that felt safe and welcoming to the University’s Riawunna students and the broader Indigenous community. We chose to engage a First Nations artist to design custom carpets within the Library as a means of reflecting and celebrating First Nations culture, history and identity. The custom carpets were designed by Tasmanian Aboriginal artist Caleb Nichols-Mansell and represent and reflect the landscape and country of the local area. With colours and patterns of the reeds and wetlands, the carpets tell the stories of the Old People who lived in harmony with the waterways of the kanamaluka (Tamar River), providing food and natural resources and sustaining life on the country they called home. As a series of carpets across all levels of the Library building we hoped the carpets, along with embedded displays of art and craft would create a sense of culture, place and belonging for the Indigenous community within the Library. The Shaw Custom Canvas range allowed us to work seamlessly with the artist and University to create a series of beautiful artworks that became an integral part of the Library landscape. Inside the walls of the University’s new Library are unique artworks telling the story of an ancient culture that lives on across the site. The University of Tasmania commissioned Tasmanian Aboriginal artist Caleb Nichols-Mansell to design feature rugs for the building's interior as a means of reflecting and celebrating culture, history, and identity. Caleb Nichols-Mansell is an early career mixed media artist and the Founder of Blackspace Creative Arts and Cultural Hub. He is a proud Tasmanian Aboriginal man with deep connections to country, community, culture, and spirit which all inform his practice and process as an artist and leader. “Growing up in Launceston, I spent a lot of time exploring and connecting to Country. There was always something mystical about this waterway that drew me in, it was like an energy. It was important that I brought kanamaluka from outside into the campus and told the story of how it supported our Old People and still connects and supports our community today.”- Caleb Nichols-Mansell. Caleb Nichols-Mansell created seven custom rug design concepts which are positioned across all three levels of the Library building - each anchored by kanamaluka, the nearby Tamar River. WETLANDS- Wetlands represent the reeds and wetlands that surround the local area, in particular those attached to the kanamaluka. MUKA/SALT WATER - Muka depicts and pays homage to salt water Country. Country our community are familiar with and even more so our women who frequent these waters to harvest food and natural resources. KANAMALUKA- The earthy tones are inspired by our natural ochre pigments found throughout the local region. The free flowing shapes, made by lines represent the winding flow of the kanamaluka and surrounding waterways which provided food and natural resources. FLATS- Flats depicts the tidal mud flats found along the banks and mouth of the kanamaluka as the tide comes in and out.