"With SEAING MEMORY, I was inspired to document my continuous connection to Sea-Country. This Ancestral memory is layered throughout my work, representing the resilience and strength of my Ancestors and their perseverance through time. I see this work as a way to honour the stories I have been told. SEAING MEMORY is part of an ongoing series of work that spans various media to explore the power of directional traffic signs and their ability to control, repress and disorientate First Nations people. The presence of these signs on Country can be seen as a reminder of the violence of colonisation. Ultimately, this work is a redirection back to Country, family and our cultural voice.

The Bull Kelp in SEAING MEMORY has been screen-printed with symbology from fragmented road signs that I have created. I carved into the kelp to further imbed my cultural connection to Sea Country, despite the colonial history of interruption my family has endured. I have then woven feathers and found fibres into the work to create a unified vessel, creating layers of depth and meaning. As the kelp dries, it shifts and shrinks, directing me to weave with the natural ebb and flow of the materials."

- Lisa Waup, 2026

Lisa Waup is a mixed-cultural, First Nations artist and curator born in Narrm (Melbourne). Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses weaving, experimental printmaking, sculpture, fashion, body adornment, and public art. Working with a strong sensitivity to the symbolic and cultural power of materials, Waup’s work is informed by personal experience, family history, Country, and broader historical and contemporary narratives.

Waup has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally, with solo exhibitions at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA (2024); Gertrude Glasshouse, Narrm (2024); and the Australian Print Workshop as part of the Dowd Foundation Fellowship, Narrm (2024). Previous solo exhibitions include Linden New Art Gallery, Narrm (2019); ReDot Gallery, Singapore (2018); and the Koorie HeritageTrust, Narrm (2012).

From 2017 to 2019, Waup collaborated with Narrm-based fashion designer Ingrid Verner on the Lisa Waup x VERNER collection. The collection has featured in major touring exhibitions including Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion (2020–2025) and New Exuberance: Contemporary Australian Textile Design (2023–2026).

In 2024, Waup was awarded the Paul Selzer Award at the Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. She completed a Master of Contemporary Art at the University of Melbourne in 2021, where she was also a recipient of the ART150 Fellowship. Lisa Waup is currently a Lecturer in the Drawing and Printmaking Program at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.

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