Heritage Hands: A Solo Exhibition by Melissa Hoedel

Heritage Hands premieres at Et Al Gallery in February 2026, showcasing eight artisans whose endangered crafts reveal the beauty, skill and cultural significance of handmade traditions. Through large-format portraiture and intimate process imagery, the exhibition preserves the knowledge held in the hands of Australia’s last umbrella maker, bookbinders, natural dyers and more. The exhibition launches the limited-edition Volume One publication.

Heritage Hands: A Solo Exhibition by Melissa Hoedel

Et Al Gallery · Sandgate, Queensland
Opening February 2026

Heritage Hands makes its public debut in a major solo exhibition at Et Al Gallery, celebrating the artisans who hold some of Australia’s most endangered crafts. Through intimate portraiture, process photography and narrative storytelling, the exhibition invites audiences to slow down and rediscover the knowledge held in the hands of makers.

Featuring eight artisans from Queensland, Tasmania and beyond, the exhibition reveals crafts rarely seen today — umbrella making, bookbinding, natural dyeing, toolmaking, spinning, weaving and more. Each story reflects a lineage shaped by lived experience, culture and decades of practice.

The exhibition presents large-scale photographic portraits alongside close studies of tools, hands and materials. These images sit with narrative prose drawn from in-depth interviews, highlighting the emotional, historical and cultural context of each craft.

Heritage Hands is both an act of honouring and a gesture of preservation: a reminder that handmade traditions endure only when we take time to witness and celebrate them.

The exhibition launches Volume One, a limited-edition publication documenting the first cohort of artisans, with Volume Two to follow in late 2026.

Visitors are invited to explore the work slowly, reflectively, and with a renewed appreciation for the extraordinary skill, patience and cultural memory woven into each craft.

Exhibition Launch

Join us for the opening of Heritage Hands, a photographic celebration of Australia’s endangered crafts.

On Saturday 7 February, Et Al Gallery will host the official launch of this exhibition, featuring eight artisans whose handmade traditions hold generations of cultural memory. Through intimate portraits, process imagery and storytelling, the exhibition honours the makers who keep these rare crafts alive.

Be among the first to view the collection and celebrate the release of the limited-edition Heritage Hands — Volume One publication.

Saturday 7 February 2026 Et Al Gallery, Sandgate

Tickets available HERE

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