Wilding Whitlam Exhibition Catalogue (2)

Wilding Whitlam
Lea Durie

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people as the traditional custodians of the ACT and
surrounding areas. We honour and respect their ongoing
cultural and spiritual connections to this country and the
contribution they make to the life of this city and this
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Cover Image: Lea Durie | Wilding Whitlam (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Wilding Whitlam
Lea Durie
16 February - 16 March 2024
Craft + Design Canberra

Image: Lea Durie | Wilding Whitlam (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Image: Lea Durie | Wilding Whitlam (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Image: Lea Durie | Wilding Whitlam. 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Wilding Whitlam
ARTIST STATEMENT
Whitlam is an exploration of a new
place through the deep time
materiality of clay. This work
started with a curiosity of what I
might find when a planned urban
place is encountered through
unplanned wanderings and messy
bodily entanglements. I approach
the new, clean and ordered suburb
of Whitlam, on Ngunnawal and
Ngambri country, through its
human architecture and the nonhuman
world of 350 million year
old clay, dug from within the
suburb. The repetitive and
intensive process of working with
wild clay forces me to slow down
and take notice. An exchange
between place, labour and material
develops its own rhythm. A
sensory engagement with the
weight, colour, texture, smell and
sound of the wild clay shows a
vibrancy of matter.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Lea is a Braidwood based artist
working primarily in ceramics.
Working with clay for over 20 year
Lea uses this malleable material to
create forms that investigate human
impact on the landscape. Lea works
with both wild and commercial clays
and manipulates surfaces with slips,
sgrafitto, glaze and printing.
Lea is currently completing a Masters
of Contemporary Art Practices at the
ANU School of Art and Design. She
has been the recipient of a highly
commended award in the national
Klytie Pate Ceramics Award 2023, the
3D award at the QPRC Art Prize, the
Doug Alexander Award 2021 from the
Canberra Potters’ Society the Craft
ACT Emerging Contemporaries
Award with Craft ACT. In 2023 Lea
was also awarded the Belconnen Art
Centre Exhibition Award, Craft +
Design Canberra Award and the
Materials Award in the ANU School
of Art and Design Graduating
Exhibition EASS awards. Her work
has been included in a number of
group shows in the ACT, Victoria and
NSW.
Lea is also a creative business owner,
with her functional ceramics practice
Mud Dept. producing carefully
designed and crafted reduction fired
tableware.

Image: Lea Durie | Wilding Whitlam. (detail) 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist