Amelia Black

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We Came with Visions but not with Sight


 Facts of Matter
Linden New Art Gallery Project Space
23 February - 24 March 2024

Curated by Cinda Manins

Facts of Matter is presented in partnership with CLIMARTE as part of the 2024 National Sustainable Living Festival program.

A new series of work, produced for the Facts of Matter exhibition at Linden New Art Gallery, curated by Cinda Manins and featuring work by the members of Clay Matters.

To learn more : Watch a video of me speaking about this piece on the exhibtion website, in addition, you can listen to a conversation recorded for  Tales of a Red Clay Rambler podcast with Ben Carter and my fellow Clay Matters colleagues Claire Ellis & Jane Sawyer.

"As we felled and burned the forests, so we burned, plowed, and overgrazed the prairies. We came with visions, but not with sight. We did not see or understand where we were or what was there, but destroyed what was there for the sake of what we desired. And the desire was always native to the place we left behind."

 Wendell Berry, from an essay entitled "The Native Grasses and What They Mean" in The Gift of Good Land, North Point Press, 1981.
In my work, I’m drawn to questions of placehood, examining the intricate relationship between clay materials and the environment. While there's often a romanticized notion of geo-regional pottery practices tied to the land, the reality of modern ceramics is deeply globalized, relying on extensive supply chains of mined materials sourced worldwide.

In my latest series, I intentionally use clay as a canvas, specifically terracotta from South Australia—embracing materials sourced entirely within the Australian landscape. his was important to me because as a white American making work on the lands of the Wurundjeri War Wurrung peoples, I wanted to pay my respects to the land and make work that had a documented relationship to Country. 

Employing the techniques of water etching and burnishing, I've tried to shape a surface that tells the story of the landscape. When I moved to Australia in 2020, it was important to me that I let go of my old ways of working and take the time to build a new practice that was sensitive to this new home. 


Inspired by the dappled light along the Merri Creek,  I worked in collaboration with the elements - sometimes waiting for a cloud to pass or a wind gust to die down - to record the shadows cast by native trees in short videos. It has been my way of capturing some of the qualities of this place in time. 

The series' title draws from the American author, Wendell Berry's reflection on the experience of colonisers coming to North America saying "We came with visions, but not with Sight. We did not see or understand where we were or what was there, but destroyed what was there for the sake of what we desired. And the desire was always native to the place we left behind."  His words resonate in clay and urge us to consider our impact on the environment.

As a ceramicist and material researcher, my creative practice extends beyond shaping clay and is ultimately an attempt to shape conversations. It's about crafting vessels that can hold the stories of our connection to nature. In doing so, I aspire to invite reflection and exploration of individual relationships with the material world.



Installation shots of the Facts of Matter exhibition at Linden New Art Project Space by Tina Wilkins Pictures
© 2020-2024, All Rights Reserved.Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung Country
Melbourne, Australia
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