In an unbroken cultural practice spanning thousands of years, Tasmania’s Palawa people have made necklaces from lustrous strings of pearlescent shells. Palawa elder Lola Greeno learnt the cultural wisdom relating to these precise protocols from her elders, including the painstaking cleaning and polishing processes used to reveal the shells’ lustre. Collecting shells – such as iridescent abalone, patterned warrener and rare king maireener (rainbow kelp) shells – is an important part of the cultural process; Greeno’s work represents her commitment to the art form, while drawing attention to the environmental change that threatens her home’s fragile natural ecosystem.