Road Less Travelled Series
This collection of work is inspired by the extraordinary beauty of the Australian landscape, especially in the outback, which is spiritual and sacred to the Aboriginal people.
My aim is to create thrown and altered forms which allow me to depict the undulated and corrugated nature of the Australian outback terrain. Multiple coloured slips are applied to these vessels and then carved. The carvings bring forth the tactile quality o me work and portray part of my journey through the outback.
Spinifex Series
This body of work has reference to the spiky spinifex grass which is widely found in the desert region of Australia and the story associated with the Spinifix people and their land within the Great Victoria Desert, in Western Australia. The story is about migration, like that of my own whom fled Vietnam in the 70s as a refugee boat person. The Spinifex people were forced out of their homeland in the 1950s as a result of the Maralinga atomic testing by the British and the Australian government.
The technical work of 'Spinifex' derives from the combined process of coiling in clay and the weaving of pine needles in basketry. Both of which have great influence on my work. Paper clay is used either with an oxide application or with a coloured stain added to the body of the clay.
I am fascinated by the intricacy and delicacy, yet simplicity of this technique. The marking left behind as a result of this combined technique not only provide me with texture and some nuances but also represent the honesty in the work. In other words, these marks have not been altered. It shows the process in the making, which is central to my work.
Boat Peoples’ Horizon
In the history of mankind there’s a constant migration shift.
This work focuses on drawing the viewers’ awareness of the journey and predicaments of those who dared to move in search of a new horizon.
Boats
1788
White (large) First Fleet
Carried convicts from Great Britain to Australia. Arrived at Botany Bay.
1947
Grey (large) The General Heintzelman
First ship that carried displaced persons from war torn Europe to settle in Australia.
Reached WA port of Freemantle, then on the HMAS Kanimbla to Port Melbourne.
1950
Blue (large) The Nelly
Transported refugees from Delmenhorst Displaced Persons’ Camp in Germany to Australia under the Displaced Persons’ Immigration Scheme.
1976
Blue (smallest)
My family and I with many others on a tiny boat leaving Vietnam for Malaysia. The journey was perilous. Surrounding us was just the deep dark sea. We encountered large waves in a storm that could devour our tiny boat, but somehow we managed to escape. After seven days, we sighted land. That was Heaven!
2001
Red MV Tampa (Norwegian Freighter)
Carried rescued Afghans from a distressed fishing vessel in international waters to enter Australian waters.
2001
White (medium)HMAS Manoora
Transported refugees from the Tampa to Nauru as part of Australia’s “Pacific Solution” asylum seeker program.
SIEVs-Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels
These boats carried asylum seekers.
2001
BlackSIEV 4
Involved in the children overboard affairs.
2001
BlackSIEV 10
Sank.
2009
GreySIEV 36
Exploded.
2010
GreySIEV 221
Shipwrecked on cliffs at Christmas Island.
2011
Blue (small)
Boat from Tunisia arriving in Lampedusa, Italy.
2011
White (small)
Another boat at sea somewhere seeking refuge.
Sunset at Uluru
This work depicts the magnificence of Uluru at sunset but also the fragility of the sacred monolith, which is being blemished by human interventions over the years.
Koru - New Life
Nocturne
It is a journey into the night when my imagination and creative forces are most intense
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