Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand

This book offers a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, mapping the remarkable story of how two countries, far from the jewellery centres of Europe and North America, have contributed to an international art form, transforming jewellery from an imitation of European taste into an original expression of place.

Damian Skinner and Kevin Murray bring together detailed analysis of objects and historical sources to show how contemporary jewellery offered a way to negotiate relationships between settler and indigenous cultures, to find beauty in humble materials, to appreciate the natural environment, and to test conventions of art, gender and identity.