I was invited to present, exhibit and curate around the theme of “Decolonizing Clay” at The Australian Ceramics Triennale Tasmania from May 1-4, 2019. I stayed on for another week, then a couple more in Australia and hopped home via Beijing and Vancouver. This is my missive out to my email subscribers peppered with photos.
Hobart feels like Halifax.
I am sitting on a plane, the last leg of my seven-flight, five-week journey that took me to Tasmania, through Melbourne and Sydney, via Beijing, Vancouver and now heading home to Toronto. I was invited to present, moderate and curate around the theme of ceramic artists of colour making place and holding space to tell their own stories at the Australian Ceramics Triennale in Hobart, Tasmania. I was fortunate to receive Canada Council funding to bring this vision to reality, and was thrilled to work with my fellow panelists, Arun Sharma (a Sydney-based American sculptor I had met on my last trip to Australia in 2017), and Neville Assad-Salha, a veteran maker and Lebanese-Australian currently relocating to Adelaide. Our panel drew an impressive audience of over half the delegates, estimated at 350 – and what stayed with me, were the half a dozen or so young Australian artists of colour who came to me over the next few days to tell me that they had been moved to tears – tears of relief and of joy – to hear other racialized artists, similar to themselves, speak our truths, honestly, without confrontation, blame or shame, but with steadfast pride.
Neville Assad-Salha, Heidi McKenzie, Arun Sharma - the participants/exhibitors in Decolonizing Clay
I had a great time hanging with the gaggle of Canadians who made to the Triennale at MONA. Grace Nickel and I spent the day soaking up the experience of the Museum of Old and New Art, which more than lives up to its reputation. I found myself drawn to write about the largest glockenspiel in the world.
Possibly the most compelling work of art at MONA, The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart - as the water falls, it spells random words - it’s beautiful and genius.
Hobart feels a lot like Halifax and a little like St. John’s. I signed up for a five-day whirlwind tour of Tasmania post-conference – three weeks later I found myself on Vancouver Island touring its south shore – and I realized why the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania were so familiar – they are astoundingly similar to the wilderness of the west coast of BC! – which in no way diminished the awe-inspiring beauty of either natural wonder. Ceramics is truly an international community – a friend from Jingdezhen, Diana Williams hosted me in Melbourne and then I was onto Sydney – to be feted with Mitsuo and Chris Shoji in grand style, a dinner with Trudy Golley and Paul Leathers and plenty of time with my former studio mate, Szilvia Gyorgy, and squeezed in the symphoney at the Opera House with Giti Dutt. I had a brief 52-hour layover in Beijing, and was blessed with warm sun, yet high winds which whisked away any threat of harmful pollution. I took a day-tour of the least touristy part of The Great Wall, checked that off the bucket list, and spent the rest of my time wandering the Forbidden City and ducking in and out of contemporary art galleries in the798 Art District.
The venue was at Princess Wharf No. 1 - over 1000 pieces of ceramic art under one roof!
I arrived in Vancouver two days before my husband was to receive his honourary doctorate for outstanding contribution to community from UBC. It was a full week of festivities which brought me to tears of pride and joy. We were blessed to have his mother and his brother with us. We managed to pack in quite the social calender, check out most of the major ceramics scene in town (thank you Debra Sloan, my Vancouver ceramic guide) and visit with my mentor, Ying-Yueh Chuang.
Home is a mere few hours away – and I feel as if I haven’t really been there since the New Year. I have some work to get to this month with a solo show opening in the Gardiner Shop in early July, and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands back into the mud. Already planning a return trip to the Northern Territories for the next Australian Triennale in 2022.
