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Recent exhibition
Buried within the collections of the State Library of Queensland are two original photographs taken during a séance held in Brisbane on 24 October 1888. The photographs show an excellent example of independent slate-writing, where (purportedly) spirits of the dead communicate with the living by writing messages on a slate in the presence of a medium.
Growing up on the edge of the desert in Western Australia I developed a love of nature and over the intervening years my connection to 'place' has driven my artistic practice. However an illusory 'white' history has gradually been revealed and I cannot ignore it. I am forced to re-examine my own past and my place within it.
My work in séance draws inspiration from the slate-writing of Fred Evans and my own white history in and around the area I was born- particularly around pastoral and mining leases. It explores the 'voices of a white past' communicating the deceits and illusions of my own white history.
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Self reconciliation- 1834-1935
Porcelain, black slip, gold lustre, decals
Photograph: Art Atelier Photography
Recent exhibition
Country: Ancient Lands
The work in this solo exhibition draws inspiration from the Australian landscape and the Artist-in-Residence I undertook at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2017.
The exhibition, presented at Sturt Gallery in Mittagong, explored connection to county. I forage materials – mostly clays dug from a variety of locations, but also volcanic rock ash, pumice, seaweed – and use these materials as an expressive device to explore our connections to place.
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Monaro to the Coast- Ancient highland
Porcelain, clay from Monarro Plains NSW, black slip
Photograph: Art Atelier Photography
Recent Artist-In-Residence
Tel Aviv, Israel
Artist-In-Residence at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel. Spending six weeks in Israel I traveled extensively from the borders of Lebanon and Syria to the Negev Desert collecting soils and clays, using them in my work to attain a palette of colour that reflects the richness and feeling of place and ancient lands of Israel.
The aim of the residency was to explore Israel as an ancient land (resonating with the historic Holy Lands) and my own connection to the Australian landscape (as a spiritual experience). The resulting work was presented in the solo exhibition, Country - ancient lands.
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Avi Amesbury
AiR studio space
Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv
NEWS
01
18 January 2020
I've been invited to present work in the exhibition séance, curated by Sean Morris. The show opened at Stanley Street Gallery in Sydney on Wednesday 19 February and ran to 14 March 2020.
02
1 November 2019
Thrilled to have the catalogue essay for the solo exhibition Country - ancient lands written by Peter Haynes featured in The Journal of Australian Ceramics.
03
15 October 2019