The Torch and QVWC come together for NAIDOC Week exhibition

A new exhibition at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre will bring together powerful paintings and intricate weavings by First Peoples women with lived experience of incarceration.

Presented in partnership with The Torch, We Sit in Circle will run from July 3 to 30 at QVWC’s Birnbeal Rainbow Exhibition Space on the ground floor of its Lonsdale St home.

Now in its second iteration, the exhibition explores women’s strength, hope and survival through works by First Peoples artists who are mothers, aunties, grandmothers, daughters and sisters.

The exhibition is being presented as part of NAIDOC Week and reflects the shared commitment of The Torch and QVWC to creating spaces for First Peoples storytelling, women’s voices and artistic self-determination.

For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have used symbols as a visual language to pass down stories, preserve cultural knowledge and express spiritual beliefs.

The exhibition takes its name from the circle, a symbol that can represent a meeting or resting place, reflecting how people come together to sit, yarn and share. Lines extending from the circle can signify journey paths, showing movement to and from a place of connection. Curated to reflect the circle and a resting place, We Sit in Circle places works by artists in the community near the entrance and exits of the gallery, while works by artists currently in prison are positioned at the centre.

Flick Chafer-Smith Headshot. Photo: James Morgan

The design reflects each artist’s journey, with those in the centre “regrouping, reconnecting and resting” until they can return to community and continue on their own paths after release.

The exhibition has been curated by Flick Chafer-Smith, a Ngarrindjeri artist and First Peoples arts mentor at The Torch.

Flick said her own art practice had helped give her an identity to build on, allowing her to connect with family on Country and continue learning more about culture.

“The Torch has given me so much, much more than I ever thought possible,” she said.

When I was in jail, I was identified by my crime, by my CRN, by my surname. But now I have my own identity, I am creative, I am an artist, I am Flick.

The Torch is a First Peoples-led not-for-profit based in Carlton that supports artists with lived experience of incarceration to strengthen cultural connection and earn income through art.

All artworks in We Sit in Circle will be available to purchase in the gallery or online, with 100 per cent of the artwork price going directly to the artist.

We Sit in Circle runs from July 3 to 30 at QVWC, 210 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. •

Group Image: L–R: Kelly Flanagan (Wiradjuri artist), Flick Chafer-Smith (Ngarrindjeri artist and curator), Thelma Beeton (Palawa artist), Stacey Edwards (Taungurung/Boon Wurrung/Bunurong artist),Narnz (Gunaikurnai/Barkindji/Wurundjeri/Bundjalung artist), Alisha F (Wadawurrung artist) at Opening event, We Sit in Circle 2025, presented by The Torch at Queen Victoria Women's Centre. Photo: Tiffany Garvie.