Michael Bayles holding one of the tapestries that will be on display. Photo: Erin Hee.
A series of embroidered tapestries depicting more than two centuries of history will be exhibited for the first time in Wagga next weekend.
The Wagga Wagga Quakers Exhibition, A Stitch in Time, will feature more than 30 tapestries, as well as artwork from emerging artists in the local First Nations and Quakers communities. The panels will be displayed at The Ambo Gallery next weekend.
The exhibition will be officially opened on Friday evening by Shannon Zimmerman, a Quaker Elder from Canberra.
The panels are part of the Australian Quaker Narrative Embroidery Project and are stitched by groups from around Australia. They illustrate the history of the Religious Society of Friends in Australia (also known as Quakers), which dates back to 1652 in England.
Michael Bayles, a retired photographer and a Quaker of more than four decades, said it had been a challenge to gather all the tapestries.
“Normally it’s been in capital cities,” Mr Bayles said.
The 75-year-old attended his first Quaker meeting in Sydney in 1974, and is excited for the exhibition to be held in Wagga rather than the big cities.
“We all believe that we’ve got direct communication with God, without going through ministers or clergy. So our meetings are usually in silence,” he said.
“We just sort of concentrate on the silence, and because you’ve got a whole group of people that are together like that, it’s quite profound.”
The religion was founded in 1652 by George Fox, and is about the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and environment. Mr Bayles said there were only about 1000 Quakers in Australia, the majority of whom were in Tasmania.
“We’ve got a small group in Wagga,” he said.
“We meet once a month at the Uniting Church Drop-in Centre on the third Sunday of every month.”
The Quakers don’t push their religion, but are committed to a peaceful and non-violent lifestyle.
The Wagga Quakers group will be launching a petition at the opening night of the exhibition on Friday, 8 August, calling for a feasibility study by Wagga Wagga City Council to relocate the cannon from the Rotary Peace Park beside Wollundry Lagoon at The Esplanade to the Victory Memorial Gardens across the road.
Some of the artwork will be on sale and proceeds will go to Quaker Services Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that funds community development projects in Australia and overseas.
The Wagga Wagga Quakers Exhibition will be at The Ambo Gallery, Johnston Street, from 8 to 10 August from 6 pm.
Entry is free, and more information can be found here.
