Relics of the Past, 2022 midfire clay, stains and glaze, lustre.

Finalist Heysen Landscape Prize, 2022

Hanging dingoes from trees is a form of communication amongst farmers, or between hunters. Used to deter other dogs and provide evidence a hunter can collect their bounty; their carcasses are left to swing from trees and fences across some regions of Australia. A motif for conflict and human impact, the dingo is listed as both a native animal and a restricted invasive animal, symbolising the uneasy relationship between human progress and native ecosystems.

Colonial settlers brought with them animals that altered the landscape and displaced the equilibrium. Today the persecution of dingoes has driven family packs into fragmented groups making them reliant on livestock and absent of an apex leader.

In this work the dingo hangs, accompanied by tools referencing early settler agricultural implements and traps. Rusted as relics, they are redundant. At risk, the dingo too shares a rusted patination, destined to be a relic of the past.

Terra Nullius, 2022 midfire clay, stains and glaze.

Finalist Heysen Landscape Prize, 2022

Terra Nullius is a juxtaposition of cultures, highlighting the conflict and change to the landscape caused by European infiltration. Invasion and settlement impacting and altering traditional ecological systems and leaving scars on the land. The vessel itself alludes to European rituals and artefacts, the kangaroos seen striving for escape and reflecting the end of the historic ways. Clustered together, the mob moves chaotically and strives for escape despite the restrictive powers that leave them contained. Agricultural boundaries, development and urban structures leaving old passages blocked and traditional grazing land inaccessible.

The patination reflects the Verdigris on old monuments after exposure to the elements, however despite the scarring, the colours of the land persist as a remnant of the country.

The vessel serves as a relic to the past and a monument to survival, reflecting on assimilation.

Herbaceous Border, 2022 midfire clay, stains and glaze.

Finalist NQ Ceramics Prize, 2022

This work reflects the challenges endured by native animals due to colonial impact. The animal reflective of Canis Dingo, prowls the landscape where boundaries have changed. Hunting and breeding grounds are impacted by progress and development and survival is a test. Around his neck, sits a floral chain reminiscent of the English Herbaceous Border. (A collection of plants arranged closely together to create a dramatic effect through colour and scale and used to define areas). In this instance the border suggests constraint and restriction as the eco system has altered and evolved in the face of European settlement. His surface patination has a green hue, reflective of the Verdigris on old monuments exposed to the elements.

Photo Evan Bailey

Strigiformes Census, 2022, hand-built ceramic earthenware, glaze.

Finalist Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, 2022

Owls, (order of Strigiformes) swallow their food whole, retaining the nutrients they need and discarding feathers and bones in expelled pellets. By identifying bones found in owl roosts conservationists have been able to determine animals that are in an area and most notably ascertain those that are absent. This hypothetical owl nest alludes to the remnants of fauna found in the owl’s roost and highlights those at risk, who are no longer present. Symbolised as patinated relics and tagged with museum specimen tags around their feet, endangered or extinct animals are no longer captured in the census.

Photo - Evan Bailey

Wastage, 2021, ceramic earthenware, glaze and lustre

Dairy cows can be kept continually pregnant so that their milk can be consumed by humans. Wastage of the industry is the male calf, useless in this cycle. Like any mother, strong maternal bonds are formed and this practice causes suffering, distress and slaughter. In my own futile plight for motherhood I reflect on achieving childbirth and the prospect of having a child forcibly removed,  considering those that have and continue to endure this trauma now and throughout our own history.

The black ‘bobby calf’ is motionless reminiscent of momento mori, inaccessible liquid (gold) milk is spilt around him.

Photo Evan Bailey

Hybrid Juxtaposition, 2022, earthenware clay and glaze.

This work explores the domestic attributes assigned to dogs, in contrast to the traits allocated to the Dingo. The two interacting dingoes appear in the act of play, but could be seen to be in conflict, dominance, or the act of submission as their future is unclear.

Traditionally highly valued pets and hunting dogs, dingoes are now considered at risk due to declining numbers and loss of habitat, their biggest threat comes from human impact and persecution. Despite being skilled at reading human gestures and at evolving to their surroundings, dingoes now appear destined on a trajectory of eradication. The contribution of poisoning through bait such as 1080, trapping to reduce livestock loss and the degradation of their genetics through breeding with domestic wild dogs has all taken a toll. Performing a vital role in ecological systems, a stable population of dingoes in the wild, could maintain an equilibrium amongst other native, prey species. Traditionally tan in colour, dingoes in fact come in a diverse range of colours, depicted here in black and white. Coat colour is not a true indicator of genetics or a measure of ancestry as research into culled black and white dogs in the Blue Mountains, assumed to be dingo-dog hybrids based on their coat colour may have in fact been pure dingoes.

Finalist North Sydney Art Prize, 2022

Photo Evan Bailey

Sins of Man, 2021 hand-built mid fire black clay, lustre, steel

The footage of Benjamin, the last Thylacine, pacing a mesh enclosure is a haunting record of the last of his kind. An animal hunted persecuted and finally extinguished by Colonial settlers. The reference image for this work was of a hunter, posing with the corpse of his swaying prey. My work reflects that we have learned little from the past, as we continue to pillage, to destroy and to incapacitate – pushing many species of flora and fauna to the brink.  Black clay was used as a medium to create a sense of monument and a relic of a moment in time, the stripes for which the Tiger was hunted shine like precious antiquities reflecting the burden that human impact can place on animal species, such as the Thylacine with his desirable pelt.

Photo Evan Bailey

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