There’s a breadth to Dr Virginia Keft's work that I’ve had trouble condensing into a few hundred words. She’s a proud Muruwari woman, a multidisciplinary artist and the owner of Illawarra’s longest-running belly dance company, Cinnamon Twist. Her arts practice is wide ranging, and she is currently exhibiting her wearable artwork Women’s Business in Germany, while April will see her take part in Sculpture in the Garden.

Virginia weaves and sculpts and paints and somehow finds time to lead the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program bangawarra Art Yarns. This is an important and culturally safe space for Elders and their families who are at risk of developing or are living with dementia to create art, to yarn and to connect.

And connection is at the heart of much of what Virginia does. Connection to her family from far north-west New South Wales and to Dharawal Country, a place she loves and where she has lived most of her life. Connection to culture and to community.

“My work explores ideas of resilience, the persistence of cultural memory, connection to place and Country, and concepts of value, and belonging,” she said. 

One of the things that really drew me to Virginia’s art was the colourful, intricately woven 'matjam', flying foxes, that feature in some of her work. “Dharawal Country is home to tens of thousands of Grey-headed Flying Foxes,” she said. “Here long before humans arrived, these vulnerable creatures are important to our ecosystems, pollinating and dispersing the seeds of many native trees.

“For me, the woven matjam celebrate connection to place and community. I’m using a weaving technique that has been passed down generationally. Threads of Culture are woven together through learning from Elders, listening to Country and engaging with knowledge.”

While preparing for Sculpture in the Garden, Virginia is also working to create connection within the wider community. Her newly established, soon-to-be named art space in Crown St Mall is already featuring belly dance classes of an evening and will be introducing workshops and art programs over the next few months. Think art for all levels and the program I’m most excited about: monthly weaving classes.

“I’m interested in driving social change through creative practices to create safe, inclusive communities and programs that promote understanding, respect and mutual learning,” Virginia said.

Without giving too much away, her 2025 exhibit for Sculpture in the Garden, Nuwa ganda (look up), features the beautiful, handwoven flying foxes. Each matjam is unique and Virginia tries to give each its own personality. She said the work “pays homage to the intricate and complex nature of family through the symbol of the matjam".

"Flying foxes thrive by maintaining communal bonds with each other that span generations," Virginia said. "I really enjoy watching the bats take flight in the early evening and head out across to the islands off Port Kembla. It feels special to witness this special journey, they are so deeply connected to the sky stories of this place." 

And maybe that's why I'm so drawn to her woven depictions of the matjam: those flying foxes connect us, as I also stand out each night, watching a different colony of bats take to the sky. 

For updates on workshops and exhibitions, follow Virginia on Instagram and Facebook or head to her website. The new arts space is located at  3/128-134 Crown St, Wollongong (accessed via the escalators next to St George Bank).

Sculpture in the Garden is at Wollongong Botanic Garden from April 1-30. It's free.