Hosted by Lapunyah Art Gallery in Chinchilla, Reparative Threads brought together six women from across the Western Downs to work alongside lead artist Dr Karike Ashworth in a three-week artist residency. Through shared making, discussion and experimentation, participants explored the region's landscapes, histories and agricultural industries using expanded textile practices.

 Together, the group travelled across the Western Downs, visiting the Dalby Cotton Gin, spending time with members of the Chinchilla Field Naturalists Club, and foraging along Auburn Road on the edge of Barakula Forest. They collected roadside cotton litter, native vegetation, grasses, rusted objects and other overlooked materials, using eco-printing, natural dyeing, hand-spinning, stitching, weaving and assemblage to transform these local materials into contemporary artworks. Daily conversations, reflective writing and ongoing mentoring encouraged participants to consider not only how they made work, but why.

 Although each artist has developed a distinct body of work, the exhibition is united by shared processes of gathering, transformation and repair. Together, the works explore the layered ecological, agricultural, industrial and personal histories of the Western Downs, demonstrating how hand-making can foster conversation, connection and new ways of understanding place.

 The exhibition will tour the Western Downs over the next three years and is presented alongside selected works from the collections of Lapunyah Art Gallery and the Western Downs Regional Council, including works from Chinchilla, Miles, Wandoan and Dalby. Bringing contemporary responses into dialogue with the region's cultural collections, the exhibition offers multiple perspectives on the landscapes, materials and communities of the Western Downs.

 Reparative Threads is supported by the Regional Arts Fund (RAF)—an Australian Government program managed by Regional Arts Australia and delivered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.