Exhibition | souvenir: the trace of threads | By Dr. Grace Pundyk
Schedule
Wed, 01 Apr, 2026 at 12:00 am to Sun, 05 Apr, 2026 at 12:00 pm
UTC+11:00Location
Polish Club/ Klub Polski Ashfield | Burwood, NS
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Exhibition | souvenir: the trace of threads | By Dr. Grace PundykDates of Exhibition | 4 February through to the 5 April 2026 (free)
Official Opening | Friday 6 February 2026, 5:00pm - 6:30pm (free)
Meet the Artist Dinner | 6:30pm - 9:00pm (ticketed event)
Location | The Polish Club Ashfield
182 Liverpool Road, Ashfield, NSW, 2131
Once upon a time, in the latter half of the 20th century, a large proportion of Australian souvenir linen – tea towels, tablecloths, napkins – was hand-screen printed in Poland. To most, that place of manufacture was insignificant. Those ubiquitous cloth mementoes were and still are uniquely Australian. With their colourful native flora and fauna, iconic locations, industry, sport, culture and appropriated Indigenous art how could they represent anything else?
But if you look carefully, another story starts to unfold. The tiny ‘Made in Poland’ labels, stitched on the underside and the ‘Pure Linen, Hand Printed, Fast Colours’ labels stuck on the front are telltale signs. Then consider the quality of the linen, the pallete of colours used on the designs, and the overall production, and you are undeniably transported into a world that speaks as much to Poland’s rich textile heritage as it does to the country’s decades-long changing fortunes (and misfortunes) from the post-war period, through to communist control and its downfall.
‘souvenir: the trace of threads’ is a series of textile-based works that takes these Polish-made Australian souvenir linens on a journey of transformation, renewal and restoration to explore a different kind of remembering extending across cultures, geographies and generations.
About the artist | Dr Grace Pundyk is a Melbourne-based artist, author, choreographer and scholar living on the lands of the Woi-wurrung and Boon-wurrung.
Her work - both artistic and scholarly - is interdisciplinary with a memory and intercultural focus, and seeks to blur the boundaries of identity, belonging, death and the beyond through ritual and an honouring of the natural environment.
Grace’s ongoing project, Heirloom, the work of which features in her current show ‘souvenir: the trace of threads’, utilises vintage Australiana souvenir linen textiles (made in Poland), Japanese linen and silk thread and materials from the natural world to connect and sustain matrilineal threads across generations, cultures and continents.
In addition to exhibiting/performing her work in solo and group shows across Australia, Poland, Ukraine and Chile, she has published books and book chapters with St Martin’s Press, New York; Jagiellonian University Press; Polish Academy of Sciences; and Routledge.
Grace has undertaken research at the Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie (National Museum of Ethnography) and Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru w Białymstoku (Sybir Memorial Museum) and continues further research in her capacity as Visiting Fellow at the Centre of European Studies, Australian National University.
About the curator | RENATA ART DESIGN | Over the past two decades, Renata has worked for a variety of commercial galleries, artist run initiatives, auction houses, cultural festivals, and major arts institutions, most notably the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. She has curated, facilitated, and marketed over 100 exhibitions nationally and internationally. Renata has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Tasmania, and a Masters in Art Curatorship from the University of Sydney.
LEARN MORE >> https://renataartdesign.com/grace-pundyk/
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Where is it happening?
Polish Club/ Klub Polski Ashfield, 73-75 Norton St, Ashfield NSW 2131, Australia, BurwoodEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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