THANAKUPI is a well respected Thanaquith elder from the Weipa region, acknowledged as the most established indigenous ceramicist in Australia.

Being the first Aboriginal artist to study ceramics at a tertiary level, Thanakupi’s career spans more than 30 years, during which time she has earned acclaim both in Australia and on an international level.

She uses clay to convey the ancestral stories of her Thainakuith people from Napranum in western Cape York, often drawing on personal experience in crafting her work.

Thanakupi sees ceramics as a means to communicate the history and laws of her people and as a way to establish a more permanent record of stories usually told through sand drawing and ceremonial performance.

Her contemporary indigenous art form reveals a dynamic and continuous dialogue between traditional practices and the present day.

Within customary indigenous culture, clay was used for ceremonial body decoration, making it important and, in some cases, sacred.

Its use was governed usually by men.

Thanakupi’s work in clay takes this medium into distinctly “untraditional” realms, but the stories she depicts are embedded in her knowledge of, and position within, the Napranum community.

In 2004, Thanakupi was awarded an Order of Australia and, in 2005, she received an honorary doctorate from James Cook University, making her the highest decorated indigenous artist in Australia.

Thanakupi is also the recipient of the prestigious Australia Council for the Arts’ Visual Arts Emeritus Award for her unparalleled career as an indigenous artist, teacher and community leader. She was recently acknowledged as a “2008 Queensland great”.

Thanakupi’s artworks are held in collections at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the National Museum of Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Holmes a Court Collection and the Powerhouse Museum in Brisbane.

KickArts director Rae O’Connell said Thanakupi was a creative, passionate and remarkable woman who left a deep impression on everyone who met her.

“She is inspirational in her approach to all her work, whether as a ceramic artist, writer and recorder of her indigenous language, or in teaching children and adults the importance of culture,” Ms O’Connell said.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Thanakupi. She has made a profound and lasting impression on all of us at KickArts.”

>> The official opening of the Thanakupi Ceramic Exhibition is held at 6pm tomorrow at the KickArts upper gallery. There will be a special performance by the Thayngarth Children’s Dance Troupe. The exhibition continues until February 14 next year.

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