A stunning display of clay creations will be on show in the School of Arts as part of this year’s Milbi Festival.
The Clay Chronicles: Storytelling through Handmade Vessels exhibition features pieces which were hand crafted by local Elders in collaboration with Malki Studios and capture Indigenous stories.
Malki Studio’s Ariella Anderson said after previously meeting with local Aunties she needed an idea of how to lock these stories into place and as a ceramic artist she came up with this concept.
While creating the Clay Chronicles Ariella guided the participants to express themselves.
“I'm encouraging the participant here to be as vulnerable [as] they wish to be, opening up a little bit so we can get more stories which are from real people, in real time,” she said.
“When you work around something like making a clay vessel you free your mind, your troubles and it brings people to all sorts of wonderful places.
“It was important to me to use my ability as an artist to link and offer it as a tool to other people and I think it's worked marvellously.”
Storytelling through clay creations
Having worked with clay in the past, participant Lloyd Appo said during one of the workshop sessions that it was great to get back into working with the medium and he had created three pieces.
“Two of my pieces are sort of about my Traditional Country, which is not Bundaberg, so I’m trying to represent that,” he said.
“The third I’m not sure yet, we will have to wait and see.”
Both Llyod and another participant Aunty Pamela Croft said they were excited to see their works on display in the Clay Chronicles exhibition and enjoyed attending the Milbi Festival each year.
Pamela said collaborating with workshop facilitators Ariella, and her son Adam Anderson, had been a wonderful experience, as they passed on knowledge every step of the way.
“I think we just set out to be creative, but I think intuitively our spirit goes into the work,” she said.
“I think the colouring will probably speak even more to us, once we choose and put the colours on, I think that will inspire us more about Country and our lives.”
Clay Chronicles exhibition
Clay Chronicles can be viewed daily between 28 October and 5 November from 9 am to 3.30 pm.
The exhibition opening will be held at 1 pm on 28 October.
The exhibition is located in the School of Arts building at 184 Bourbong Street.
The Milbi Festival begins this Friday 27 October. Check out the full list of Milbi Festival events here.
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