Ingenious ceramic work secures the 2018 Gab Titui Award
Jimmy K. Thaiday from Erub Arts was named winner of the 2018 Gab Titui Indigenous Art Award.
Mr Thaiday’s ceramic work Ares Lu was selected from a field of 52 works by artists from communities in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula area by guest judge, Tina Baum, Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia.
Torres Strait Regional Authority Acting-Chairperson and Member for Ugar, Mr Jerry Stephen, congratulated Mr Thaiday on taking home the Award’s major prize for the first time.
“Mr Thaiday and his colleagues at Erub Arts have been a consistent presence in the Indigenous Art Award since its inception in 2008. We are honoured to be able to share these awe-inspiring works through the exhibition, and we congratulate them on their success in this year’s Award.”
Commenting on the work, Ms Baum described Mr Thaiday’s use of ceramic and resin as ‘ingenious’ and acknowledged his ongoing experimentation and development in the medium. Providing an alternative perspective of traditional weaponry, the detailed work was described as a contained but segmented story, providing different elements of a bygone tradition.
Renowned Meriam artist Segar Passi was awarded second prize in the Award for his painting Symbol of Peace, described by Ms Baum as a ‘perfectly executed and memorable portraiture’.
Main image credit: Jimmy Thaiday with Ares Lu, 2018 Ceramics (wood fired), ghost net, twine, resin. Photo: George Serras, National Museum of Australia