Kerameikos
the potters' quarter
Kerameikos offers new ways of understanding some of Australia's oldest collections, by challenging historical narratives and pushing the boundaries of ceramic practice today.
In ancient Athens, the Kerameikos was the potter’s quarter, a hub of innovation where artisans produced some of the most sought-after ceramics of the Mediterranean region. 'Kerameikos' brings together seven leading Australian ceramic artists to create a contemporary potters' quarter at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
Each artist has been invited to explore the Museum’s historic and diverse collections during a week-long intensive residency, collaborating closely with the curatorial team. The resulting commissioned works will provide a fresh perspective on some of Australia's oldest collections.
'Kerameikos' (installation view), Chau Chak Wing Museum, 2024. Photo by Jacquie Manning.
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LinkBorn to Indian and Romanian migrants, MonicaRani Rudhar is a multidisciplinary artist working on Gadigal Land whose work navigates the cultural disconnections of her multi-racial ethnicity. Her work is delicately personal and takes the shape of a restorative archive that seeks to record her own histories where these stories can exist permanently.
Born in Cairns, Queensland, Janet Fieldhouse (Kalaw Lagaw Ya/Meriam Mir) is an acclaimed multidisciplinary Torres Strait Islander artist, working with ceramic hand-built forms that acknowledge the Torres Strait traditions of navigation, living off the sea and the land, and women’s traditional practices such as weaving body adornments for ceremony.
Idil Abdullahi, a Somali-born refugee is a contemporary artist and cultural practitioner based in Darug Country. An introspective artist, Idil delves into cultural intersections, identity, Black femininity, and the visual tapestry of Somali Sufi traditions in her practice, creating works that resonate deeply with her experiences and heritage.
Vipoo Srivilasa is a Thai-born Australian artist, recognised as a leader in the field of ceramics. Over the past two decades, Vipoo has made works that engage with complex questions of queerness, migration, and spiritual meaning, using an aesthetic and medium that is accessible, positive, and beautiful. His works often explore the dark parts of experience including isolation, loneliness, nostalgia, as well as joy, beauty, and hope in the midst of these struggles.
Glenn Barkley is an artist, writer, curator and gardener based between the Shoalhaven and Sydney, NSW, Australia. His work operates in the space between these interests, drawing upon the history of ceramics, popular song, the garden, and conversations about art and the internet.
Kirsten Coelho works in porcelain, creating forms and vessels that fuse the formal with the abstract. Her work has been influenced by the history of ceramics, in particular jugs, flasks, bowls, and beakers– echoes of life which she reiterates in meditations on the past and the objects of daily rituals and routines.
Juz Kitson’s works are resplendent and dense. As a contemporary multidisciplinary artist, Kitson pushes the boundaries of materiality through her sculptures, challenging traditional notions of an age-old practice and reinventing the material in a contemporary context. Inspired by the human condition and transformation, her work can be seen as a kind of alchemy.
Curator
Candace Richards
Designer
Catseye Bay
Exhibition Manager
Luke Parker
Open seven days a week
Mon - Fri: 10am - 5pm
Sat - Sun: 12 - 4pm
Closed on Public Holidays
Until 3 August 2025
Level 1 Gallery
Chau Chak Wing Museum
Free
Header image: Kerameikos (installation view), Chau Chak Wing Museum, 2024. Photo by Jacquie Manning.
This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Phone: +61 2 93512812
Email: ccwm.info@sydney.edu.au
Chau Chak Wing Museum
University Place
Camperdown NSW 2050