Helena Geiger and our first Aboriginal Textiles Collection

About Helena Geiger

Helena Geiger is an Indigenous Australian visual artist born in Sydney. She is of Gumbaynggir descent, an Indigenous group from the Mid North Coast of NSW. For the last 20 years, she has specialised in the production of textiles, using techniques such as Batik, Shibori, and various hand painting and dip dying techniques to create unique textures and patterns for the furnishing and printing industries.

Helena’s work has appeared in exhibitions across Australia, including the Aboriginal Art Prize at Parliament house in Sydney, the Samjjana Global Gallery in Paddington, and Tjungu Festival at Uluru. The Flinders University Art Museum in South Australia purchased her work as part of their permanent collection.

Textiles by Helena Geiger

Helena’s textile art draws its inspiration from specific Australian settings, using the colours, textures, and patterns she observes to create evocative, organic designs that are unmistakably Australian.

Her Cooroong series is influenced by the natural beauty of the Cooroong region of South Australia, a coastal area where the Murray River meets the Southern Ocean. Renowned for its native wildlife and unspoiled coastline, the Cooroong is recognised under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance.

Helena’s design is inspired by the “sweeping sand dunes, spinifex and saltwater rock pools” of this region, with a repeating pattern reminiscent at once of animal tracks along a beach, winding streams, and rippling reflections in water.

For her Karlu designs, Helena found inspiration in the Karlu Karlu site in Alice Springs, also known as the Devil’s Marbles. This spectacular landmark consists of enormous boulders that glow deep red, particularly in the early mornings and evenings. The site has become known around the world and is a popular tourist attraction for those visiting the Australian outback. It is a sacred site of great cultural significance for numerous Indigenous groups. Helena’s Karlu design takes its cues from the irregular shapes of the boulders and is available in a range of colours including Tawny, Sandstone, Earth, Lapis, and Bluestone. 

These are just two examples of the textiles Helena has created. Her full catalog includes designs influenced by Australia’s lagoons, rain forests, sand hills, and natural elements such as tiger’s eye. You can check more about aboriginal and indigenous fabric textile collection by another artist Rosie Paine inspired by the landscape and colours of Western Australia. Helena is a contemporary visual artist who specializes in Batik and hand-dyed textiles. Her work has been exhibited extensively in Australia and it is also part of collections in the country and abroad.

Also, Helena teaches workshops in Batik and Shibori techniques and weaving. The HG Range of fabrics has been used in many different schools to include indigenous art in student’s environments every day. The designs are the perfect way to add interest, warmth, and colour to a space.