My practice is driven by the chemical possibilities of glaze and the dual history of ceramics as both sacred artefact and quotidian object. A compulsive need to group together abstract relics and distorted vessels result in shrine-like works that merge and transgress the visual language of value within the worlds of art, religion, and commerce. My work is site-specific, responding directly to myth-making and ritual exchanges that take place within significant sites of worship, and Golden Child draws particular attention to the tension of the ceramic object within the Gallery space. Golden rivers glisten over undulating surfaces while a deep, primordial red emanates from within. Alluring and untouchable, the desire for tactile interaction that will never be met under museum etiquette both maintains value and conceals purpose. Power is borrowed from both place and time: the authority of the gallery, and the obscured narrative that brought it there.
Sibylla Robertson is an emerging artist living and working on Gadigal land, Sydney. Sibylla completed their Master of Fine Art at the National Art School in 2021, where they received the Mansfield Ceramic Prize (2019), and the N.E. Petheridge Award (2021). Sibylla has exhibited in various group shows throughout NSW, including “Cooked and the Raw”, Delmar Gallery, Sydney (2020), “Emanate”, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale (2019), and more recently at “Cut n Polish”, Carriageworks, Sydney (2022). Their work is held in private collections both locally and internationally.
