Clay as you’ve never seen it before

I Can’t Stop (Holding On), an exhibition from the Artbank Collection, presents a playful and exciting display of contemporary ceramics that contends with tradition, memory and identity. Drawing inspiration from the title of a song by The Cleaners From Venus, the show captures a strong engagement with the past alongside a forward-facing creative energy. 

With provocative, inspiring and surprising pieces from 14 talented Australian artists, this exhibition delves into clay’s potential to embody both personal and collective narratives. These artists are pushing the boundaries ceramics beyond function and tradition to explore identity, politics and play. 

Nicholas Smith’s pieces reflect an intimate negotiation of queerness, sexuality and memory. With works like body II (2023), Smith transforms ceramic forms into precarious constructions that evoke both vulnerability and strength. By incorporating found materials and exploring the boundaries of form, he questions what is held and what slips away.

Cybele Cox’s hand-made ceramic totems and figures are part of a larger inquiry into the representation of women in Western art. In her “cheeky” Bellarmine Jugs such as White Shepherd (2022), her creations play on historic German stoneware, which in the 17th century were employed as “witch bottles”: popular magic items filled with urine, hair or charms. Her pieces offer humorous, feminist reimagining of spiritual and ritual practices, reclaiming that long dismissed by Western secularism.

Known as the “bad boy of ceramics,” Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran plays with phallic symbols, graffiti and irreverent humor.  His work confronts taboos with a rebellious spirit, yet beneath the provocative surfaces of works like Silver Dickhead 2 (2014) lies a deep engagement with multiculturalism, gender and religion. Nithiyendran’s art invites viewers to reflect on the complexities of creation in a digital, globalised world.

Meanwhile, Mai Nguyễn-Long’s Vomit Girl series (2017–2022) is a visceral meditation on trauma, identity and historical memory. The childlike figures, crafted from naked clay, symbolise silenced narratives of war, colonisation and displacement. Rooted in the matriarchal spiritual traditions of Vietnam, Nguyễn-Long uses clay as a medium of resistance and healing. Her work challenges viewers to confront buried histories while finding humour and playfulness amidst the pain.

I Can’t Stop (Holding On) encapsulates ceramics’ dual nature: its capacity to hold and to spill, to stabilise and to fracture. These works are grounded in tradition yet are also incredibly experimental, embracing older forms while looking clearly to the future.

Featured artists: Stephen Benwell, Kunmanara (Pepai) Jangala Carroll, Alizha Panangka Coulthard, Cybele Cox, Tyza Hart, Katherine Huang, Rosanagh May, Georgia Morgan, Mai Nguyễn-Long, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Ebony Russell, Nicholas Smith, Carlene Thompson, Paul Wood

Visit Artbank Melbourne at 18–24 Down Street, Collingwood, VIC.

Exhibition dates: 24 October – 20 December 2024
Event: Thursday, 5 December, 5–7 PM
RSVP: via Eventbrite or rsvps@artbank.gov.au