Bud - Bush Lily

Thanaquith sculptor Gloria Fletcher Thancoupie is widely considered to be

the founder of the contemporary ceramic movement among First Nations artists. Using clay as her medium, Thancoupie conveys her passion for sharing the traditional ways of storytelling in her sculptures. Incised with bold imagery, her textured naturalistic works express Thanaquith iconography and are, at times, moulded into free-form shapes, these achieved by using the concave shapes of her knees and elbows.

The sphere has long been considered representative of the earth, fertility and

the cyclical nature of life. For Thancoupie, interest in this symbolism is evident in her hand-built ceramic sculpture, Bud – Bush Lily. Reminiscent of a flower bud, the closed form expresses the beginning of existence, from which a blossom unfurls and develops into a bloom. Large and small circles are incised into its egg-shaped body, with parts infilled with roughly cross-hatched sgraffito. These marks enhance the circular metaphor while also adding to the depth and texture of the sculpture.

Thancoupie’s Thanaquith language and culture were adversely impacted by decades of missionary influence and assimilation policies, and in response she spent much

of her life as a leading teacher and linguist. Through her ceramic works such as Bud

– Bush Lily, she was able to affirm the cyclical continuity of sharing and passing

on cultural lore and language between generations.

Gloria Strzelecki, Associate Curator of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art