Trophy Wife

Unframed 60cm x 46cm

Inkjet print on archival paper

Trophy Wife symbolises the bravery of our black women. This image speaks about Aboriginal women and women generally, in regards to domestic violence. She speaks of black women being taken forcibly by white men on the frontiers, their subsequent domestic slavery and martyrdom.

The original ceramic piece is black and blue with hints of yellowy brown which refer to physical abuse and the colour of bruising.

She also references and is a rescuing/reclamation of ‘Aboriginalia’ style ceramics from the mid-twentieth century which depicted Aboriginal women in a stereotypically racist fashion and were being manufactured at the same time that my Gomeroi Great Grandmother was in domestic servitude.

Trophy Wife is made from rolled white earthenware clay pressed into a plaster mold which was cast from a ubiquitous retro plastic ‘Aboriginalia’ face manufactured in the mid-Twentieth century. Underglazes and glazes have been used to decorate her with sgrafitto and then fired to midrange temperature.

She is prickly and the echidna quills serve to be symbolically culturally protective of her spirit.

Trophy Wife was a finalist in NATSIAA – National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 2017 and won the People’s Choice Award