Karratha Reflections I & II
2025
340cm (width) × 240cm (height) each
340cm (width) × 240cm (height) each
Concept & Design
It was very open, yet difficult brief: to create 2 large ceramic installations engaging Karratha residents within 2 weeks from landing to the exhibition opening.
Karratha is well known for the rich history and a gateway to Murujuga, also known as the Burrup Peninsula, home to the world's highest concentration of Aboriginal rock art (petroglyphs), with over a million engravings dating back over 50,000 years, depicting stories, animals, and sea-level changes, and recently gaining UNESCO World Heritage status.
Karratha is well known for the rich history and a gateway to Murujuga, also known as the Burrup Peninsula, home to the world's highest concentration of Aboriginal rock art (petroglyphs), with over a million engravings dating back over 50,000 years, depicting stories, animals, and sea-level changes, and recently gaining UNESCO World Heritage status.
Construction
Facilitating workshops to create collaborative artwork differs fundamentally from creating artwork alone. The artist's role shifts from maker to enabler—inspiring, engaging, and empowering participants with no clay experience to express their own vision of the theme.
The challenge lies in finding balance: providing enough technical knowledge to unlock creative freedom without overwhelming or stifling individual expression. It requires resisting the impulse to guide participants' hands toward the artist's aesthetic, instead creating space for authentic voices to emerge. The goal is not to use community hands to create the artist's work, but to nurture each person's capacity to translate their unique perspective into clay.
This approach honors the collaborative process as genuine exchange—where the artist curates and guides, but the community truly creates.
The challenge lies in finding balance: providing enough technical knowledge to unlock creative freedom without overwhelming or stifling individual expression. It requires resisting the impulse to guide participants' hands toward the artist's aesthetic, instead creating space for authentic voices to emerge. The goal is not to use community hands to create the artist's work, but to nurture each person's capacity to translate their unique perspective into clay.
This approach honors the collaborative process as genuine exchange—where the artist curates and guides, but the community truly creates.
i chose sgraffito technique using black, gray and iron oxide coloured underglazes over white clay. After carving, the clay slabs were propped by scrunched newspaper to create more organic, natural looking 3d surfaces, while ensuring that edges of clay works were flat against the table to faciliate installation.
Firing & Installation
All clay tiles were fired once to 1100 degrees Celsius, a temperature chosen for compatibility with school kilns and to accommodate the collaborative production timeline. The finished pieces were then curated and installed to celebrate the spirit of the Karratha region.
