Bounty of the Yuin Country
oysters, dishes and platters. 2017.
The Pambula Lake that cocoons the Jigamy camp site is strikingly beautiful. During low tide, puddles on the mud-flat reflect the changing sky. The oysters, nurtured by pristine water, are nature's bounty.
While walking atop miles of midden along the shore, I could almost hear the conversations that the Yuin people have had over millennia. The anticipation with each cracking open of the oyster shell. The satisfaction from each morsel of salty, minerally goodness. The songs and dances after a good feed.
The vessels had been brought back to the elders at the Twofold activities centre who had so generously given me their blessings to use material from their land.
White pipe clay from the Bundian way and the iron-rich clay from my backyard in Canberra combines into a deep rich red clay with perfect plasticity for forming vessels.
The unctuous glaze was concocted with crushed oyster shells from Merrimbula Bay and a touch of clay from Eden.
