In 2022, Apmere Mparntwe—the Australian Ceramics Triennale—was held on Arrernte Country. As a part of it, Artback NT developed Clay on Country, an exhibition that has since hit the road to showcase the diversity of ceramics from the region, featuring both established and emerging artists.
Co-curators Jo Foster and Neridah Stockley have 40 years of combined experience. The pair are familiar with artists and techniques from the desert. Workshops held in remote communities facilitated skill-sharing, assisting in the creation of new work from first-time makers.
A unique aspect of the show is its cross-cultural nature, featuring Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. The First Nations work largely involves Tjukurpa—ancestral stories—while other work deconstructs colonial history and environmental concerns such as fracking. “You don’t often get a chance to get First Nations and other cultural groups exhibiting together, so that made it quite dynamic and exciting,” Stockley says. “People have all different types of practices that can work alongside each other and cross over.”
Set to tour the country until July 2026, Clay on Country is currently showing at New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM). “This is a wonderful opportunity for regional NSW audiences to see and engage with high quality, interesting ceramics coming from the Central Desert, and to connect with national First Nations and contemporary Australian arts discourse,” says Belinda Hungerford, exhibitions manager at NERAM. “To be able to present an exhibition of this calibre, which focuses on connections to Country, is an important way to show a different aspect of contemporary ceramic practice.”
Adds Stockley: “The desert is a very broad, diverse region. It’s about a 600km radius for this exhibition—it’s very true to the place.”
Clay on Country: Ceramics from the Central Desert
New England Regional Art Museum
15 November—2 February 2025
This article was originally published in the November/December print issue of Art Guide Australia.
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