Phyllis Stewart

Phyllis Stewart is a Dharawal/Yuin painter, drawer, shellworker and weaver. She was born in Berry, NSW, in 1954 and has lived her whole life on the NSW South Coast. As with many South Coast Aboriginal women, Stewart was taught the art of shellworking objects as a child, in particular miniature shoes and slippers.

Stewart has said the main influences in her art practice are ‘reflections on my life, my family, land and culture’, and that she hopes her work will be a ‘legacy for my grandchildren and future generations to value Aboriginal culture’.

Stewart has participated in many exhibitions – including South Coast Weavers at the University of Wollongong and Pallingjang II at Wollongong Art Gallery. In 2006, she was a finalist in the Parliament of NSW Indigenous Art Prize with a shellworked ‘painting’. Stewart has three shellworks and an octopus sculptured weaving in the permanent collection of the Wollongong Art Gallery that were purchased in 2002. In 2015, her shellwork was curated into Shimmer, - an exhibition that investigated the shellworking practices of Indigenous communities around Australia, and in 2023 Stewart’s shellwork was included in the exhibition Thinking Through Pink – both exhibitions were held at Wollongong Art Gallery. Stewart’s 2023 public artwork, Interwoven stories, is a 3-D printed woven work depicting traditional and contemporary life of First Nations people and migrating communities of Sydney and is now part of the Meriton apartment complex in Zetland.

Text adapted from Design & Art Australia Online