The other day, a curator from Papua New Guinea was telling me about a particular custom of hospitality she grew up with called ‘hamal’. In certain circumstances, if a visitor expresses a liking for something that you possess, you are then obliged to give it to them. Clearly, this is a custom suited more to [...]
Posts under ‘relational craft’
Global prosumerism
The Americans have a love of coining new phrases. To antipodean ears, they can seem verbal gadgets, eagerly assembled for momentary pleasure. The term ‘prosumerism’ is a combination of consumer and producer. Bringing them together seems a ‘neat’ way of having best of both worlds – continuing the pleasures of shopping while assuming the authority [...]
The Kula model of jewellery exchange
Non-western jewellery provides intriguing possibilities for contemporary ornament. In 1920, the Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski published an account of an elaborate jewellery trading network in eastern New Guinea, known as Kula. Kula entails the exchange of two different sets of ornament. In a clockwise direction, long necklaces of red spondylus shell (soulava) travel from villages [...]
Zulu Bead-Mail
South African craft is characterised by an abundance of beaded products. One of the most charming is the Zulu Love Letter, which according to legend developed when Zulu men began working in the mines. As they were illiterate, communication from sweethearts back in home took for the form of ornament, where particular coloured beads signified [...]
What to make of relational craft
I’m currently visiting the Ceramics Department at the Canberra School of Art. As usual, there’s plenty of new ideas and things around. And the ‘Brindabella biter’ that blows in from the west keeps everyone on their toes. Last week I gave talk on ‘relational ceramics’, which developed partly out of a paper that I wrote [...]
Eyes of the needle
Here’s an interesting story from the Melbourne jeweller Katherine Bowman, who seems to be expanding her practice in all directions. Earlier this year she had an exhibition of ‘embroidered’ paintings based on the poems of Rilke. Now she is working with a group of older Turkish women based at Banksia Gardens Community Centre. Embroidery is [...]
Making a meal of ceramics
Vipoo Srivilasa is one of the most successful ceramicists in Australia. His amazingly productive exhibition work never ceases to surprise. In Sydney he is now trying something different. At Gallery 4A he is introducing to his work the wonderful world of Thai cuisine. The project Roop – Rote – Ruang (Taste – Touch – Tell). [...]
