say a prayer at the stones of home

Beatrice Waller, say a prayer at the stones of home, 2022. Natural clay, red iron oxide, photographic prints. 

say a prayer at the stones of home was a process of saying goodbye to my hometown, a place of great comfort to me. This place is called Warialda, located on the lands of the Kamilaroi people. In preparation for my parents moving away in 2022, I engaged in a ‘ritual’ to bid my farewell, collecting natural clay from the area, turning it into vessels and then returning it to the landscape. The resulting vessels are containers of memory, leaving my mark on the place that left a mark on me.

Pilgrimage

Beatrice Waller, Pilgrimage, 2020. Photographic prints on archival paper. 

Pilgrimage is a personal exploration of my own faith struggles in the face of difficult times. Made as I was escaping a particularly dark relationship, it grapples with the question of why the Creator lets us experience deep struggle and suffering. Here, I am battling with my own desires, my doubts and the knowledge that tells me the I am eternally loved. Referencing the children’s story, Pilgrim’s Progress, I carry a 30kg heart that is tied to my body up a hill; a physical expression of the exertion experienced when holding faith and doubt at the same time.

Skin and Vapour 1-3

Beatrice Waller, Skin and vapour 1-3 (series), 2019. Photographic pigment on archival paper.

Skin and Vapour explores the physiological nature of the human soul, considering whether it sits in the spiritual or physical realm, or, somewhere in between. The work is taken from a series of porcelain sheets, that had combustible materials fired into the glaze. When they are placed against light, the ash of the material is visible in ethereal, skin-like patterns. Here, the connection between the translucent nature of skin and porcelain is explored. Appearing bodily and spiritual at the same time, these images help us to consider our physical selves and our souls merging inside our bodies.

You are a soul

Beatrice Waller, You are a soul, 2019. Stoneware, red iron oxide, fabric and copper

You are a soul explores the physiological nature of the human soul, considering whether it sits in the spiritual or physical realm, or, somewhere in between. Drawing from Medieval medicine, the work references the “humours” , or spirits that were believed to move around the body and affect temperament and physical qualities and health, to explore the possibility that our bodies contain a physical soul . An oversized anatomical heart is contained in a sacred space, partially concealed from our view. The form shifts in and out of focus, creating an illusion of moving between the spiritual, ethereal world and a concrete physical realm.

2024 USU Creative Awards

2024 USU CREATIVE AWARDS

CURATED BY BEATRICE WALLER

14 OCTOBER - 15 NOVEMBER, 2024

This year, I had the honour of curating the 2024 USU Creative Awards, held at Verge Gallery. Open to all students of the University of Sydney (USyd), the annual University of Sydney Union (USU) Creative Awards is Australia's largest university student union creative prize, highlighting the very best of on-campus creativity from our student community.

Here are some of my reflections:

As a first-time curator, I was honoured to be presented with the opportunity to contribute to this year’s USU Creative Awards. As a current Masters of Museum & Heritage Studies and former Sydney College of the Arts student, I felt excited at the prospect of promoting the creativity of my peers. As a fellow emerging artist, I also care deeply about providing opportunities for exhibiting the work of others who are also finding their footing. However, I was also daunted. It is hard to synthesise such a diverse show as the USU Creative Awards into a clear, single thread. This is the key challenge I have found both in curating this show and putting this essay together.

Past curators have described this show as a sort of assemblage, mosaic, a collection of visual languages and expression that, when combined and viewed from a distance, shows us something of the mood of student creatives.

Alongside celebrating and awarding creative skill, I see this as key to the purpose of a show like this one. The works are a selection of the best examples of creative expression at The University of Sydney this year, and the resulting show is a snapshot of the current tide of themes, media and thought in contemporary art from a student’s perspective.

And so, what is that tide?

The experience of the last few years has been a tumultuous one. Our world is politically charged, and it feels as though we are watching history unfolding in front of us. The phrase ‘cost of living crisis’ has practically become a slang term at this point. It is against this backdrop that I found myself surprised by the direction I have seen our artists take this year.

Our finalists have approached their work with a sort of softness, or, at the very least a lack of sharpness that I would expect young people to react with in a time where they are battling against a myriad of struggles. Broadly, the themes of our selected works have a sense of sentimentality, nostalgia, yearning, escape, spiritual sereneness or introspection.

What then, do we take from this?

I believe our artists are showing a quiet strength and true resilience against pressure from all sides. When reflecting on this, I was reminded of something Australian Potter Joan Campbell once said that struck me while studying her work and practice. She is primarily known for her sculptures that were made using the Japanese Raku technique, a process where ceramic wares are heated to 1000 degrees, then pulled from the kiln and submerged in combustible materials like sawdust, hair or paper. This is incredibly stressful for the piece, withstanding the pressures of heat shock, flames and smoke. The piece is stained and marked by these stresses, cracking and blackening with the smoke, but notably remains porous, unsealed and open to change.

Campbell was so drawn to this process because of the way it mimics the human condition. She said:

“The attempt is to bring one’s work through these extremes and in the end have it retain its essential fragility and softness…Basic to the understanding of why I choose to work this way is my wish to acknowledge that the people I admire most in the world…are those who have endured huge pressures, tensions and tragedies in their lives and instead of becoming embittered or strongly aggressive have had the strength to remain soft, gentle, warm people.”

She was struck, as I am, by the way that people have the ability to undergo stress and pain and come out unjaded by the cruel things they experience. There is something to admire in strength that expresses itself with gentleness.

Returning to the work of this year’s students, there is a distinct absence of blame, sharp jabs or loud shouting (which, of course, have their place). Instead, gentleness is manifested through a few overarching threads.

The first is one of connection, explored with delicacy and nuance. We have works celebrating the spaces of safety for the queer community, expressing a desire to connect an estranged mother and seeking to reconnect to lost cultural memory. Letters to loved ones are cremated, leaving old grievances behind and a grandmother’s orchids are memorialised in paint. Each example explores a nuanced, and deeply personal experience of relationships.

Spirituality and our synergy with the natural world is the second key thread. Our artists have sought to draw out this harmony using materiality, turning natural materials into ceramic glaze, composting prints in front of eyes and leaving living grass to wither in the gallery space. Photographic work takes us into sacred spaces, capturing tranquillity and dialogue between spiritual and natural places.

Finally, the act of escape is embraced through a variety of approaches. The absurd is played on through vintage chairs turned into the stars of online porn. Dreams are manifested onto a painted surface, creating a sense of magic and time is collapsed, expressing a yearning for a past or future where things are easier.

As I expressed above, there is so much strength and grace in not allowing your pain and struggle to harden you, but I think its power goes beyond that. In exploring these ideas that cut so close to what we are as human beings, the artists are working to clean up the cultural muck that we are all swimming in. By taking a leaf from their book, perhaps we too can achieve the same strength, resilience and follow them in finding some clean water to swim in.

Read more & see the online exhibition here: https://www.verge-gallery.net/exhibitions-new/2024-usu-creative-awards

Drawing Nearer

Beatrice Waller, Drawing nearer, 2024. Porcelain, white stoneware, glaze and cremated paper. 700x200x200mm. 

Drawing nearer is a response to the life and stories of the women who lived at Meroogal House, Nowra. It represents eight moments from Meroogal’s drawing room, showing the convergence of interactions that happened in this space and uncovering something of faith, gossip and family life. White ceramic objects were fired with rewritten diary entries, leaving ash behind to react with the glaze. The results are crackled, glassy interruptions to the satin glaze surface, offering a hazy glimpse into the past, like looking through a cracked or foggy window.

Death’s Duel

Beatrice Waller, Death’s Duel, 2018. Mixed Media Installation. 

Death’s Duel is an exploration of spiritual transformation and the human desire to seek higher spiritual knowledge and eternal life. Drawing from both the physical and philosophical components of alchemy, it analyses this desire that seems to be inbuilt in to humankind. It attempts to convey a sense of transformation and refinement as seen in the alchemical process and in the Christian life as the Holy Spirit transforms the human mind, heart and soul to be godlier.

It also touches on the notion of repeated experiment and failure, depicting repeated attempts to achieve a goal; finding a path to eternal life, that will ultimately fail in the hands of humans.

I need a sign: 21 attempts to walk on water

Beatrice Waller, I need a sign: 21 attempts to walk on water, 2018. Video Performance, 4 minutes, 41 seconds.

I need a sign: 21 attempts to walk on water is a self-critique of my desire to challenge God to prove his existence. It depicts the artist attempting to walk across a kid’s inflatable pool in the natural environment 21 times. Through futile, repetitive action, it explores the human desire to seek meaning, drawing from The Myth of Sisyphus in Classical Mythology where Sisyphus was condemned to pushing a boulder up a mountain only for it to roll back down again every time it reached the summit. This constant cycle reflects the tension between the desire to see if miracles exist and simultaneously wanting to remain in ignorance, symbolised in the work by the repeated failure of the performer.

Arete

Beatrice Waller, Arete, 2018. 76 glazed stoneware cylinders, plywood, ink, coffee, steel. 630 x 430x 1200 mm.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

            -Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho

Arete is an exploration of the connection between excellence in making and morality reflecting the artist’s experience of improvement in both these areas as a maker and a person of faith. The symbol of virtuosity in craftsmanship and the journey toward the perfect Platonic cylinder draws strong parallels to this idea.

‘arete’ - a Greek word means both ‘excellence’ and ‘virtue’ that leads to happiness.

The repeated copies of the Platonic cylinder are symbolic of people being imperfect and shows the process of moral and technical improvement. The word ‘arete’ is a summary of the connection between the two aspects of the work. The idea of excellence as the goal for a craftsman relates to virtue being a goal for Christians and connects these two aspects of my life.

Consisting of 76 ceramic cylinders in neat, chronological rows, this process of improvement is distinct. An absent place is left for the 77th vessel which is a symbol of unattainable perfection. The number 77 is significant as seven is the biblical number of completeness. All of the cylinders fall short of perfection having started as a 77 gram balls of clay and through the throwing and firing process losing most of this weight.

The use of iron oxide in the glaze as a colourant is symbolic of forgiveness which is achieved by His death, the iron being a reference to blood.

The colour choice is another reference to the unattainable with white used as a symbol of purity. The vessels again will fail to achieve this being off-white. The inside will be a tone darker symbolising the inner being where imperfections cannot be hidden and the outside as the image we project to others. They are also imperfect in their weight, starting out as 77gram ball before they are thrown and losing this weight through the process of making.