Distant Blues, from Naarm/Melbourne based Georgia Black, responds to the ongoing environmental crisis and the ecologically destructive systems of extractivism inherent in ceramic production.
These works are made of waste glaze, oxide and porcelain material blends. The blue-grey hues are generated from the presence of cobalt and copper in the accumulated waste glaze from class experiments conducted at the School of Clay and Art, where the artist works as a teacher. There is waste material in both the clay body and the surface. All images were printed in waste glaze pre-firing with a paper lithography technique, then single fired.
Each tile depicts a Google Earth image of a copper and/or cobalt mine (these minerals are often extracted together). Today, twenty countries are home to the top producing quarries of the world’s cobalt and copper. This is a small selection from over one hundred mines.
An archive of destruction and extraction, borne from a bucket labelled ‘WASTE.’
Georgia Black is an early career artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Originally from Canberra, Georgia has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Australian National University, where she graduated with honours, majoring in drawing and printmaking. Since moving to Melbourne in 2018, she retrained in ceramics and completed a Master of Fine Arts at the VCA, University of Melbourne.
Her research is driven by a growing concern for the ways in which her art practice connects to the ongoing environmental crisis. Through process-led and alternative methods of making that use ceramic waste material, Georgia's practice explores ceramics as a medium for fostering ecological awareness and connection to place.
Distant Blues form part of Conscious Craft - a movement to redefine our relationship with materials in a considered, responsible and responsive way.
Ceramics