Kristen Radge

About the work

Guringai Bricks from my home, 2024
terracotta clay, white glaze, white acrylic paint, plywood frame backing, pine frame box
$700

Guringai Bricks from my home investigates the Duffy’s Forest Brickworks Quarry operation between early 1960’s until 1991 on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Walking through bush tracks near her home, Kristen found a seam of yellow ochre clay that was partially submerged from recent rainfalls. Finding this clay prompted her to speak with Guringai Indigenous Elder Laurie Bimsan about her working with and handling of this clay. Through this conversation she learnt about the history of removal of ochre clay by the Brickworks and that it is a ceremonial clay for the Guringai Indigenous community.

She discovered there are very little ochre deposits remaining in Guringai and that her home was built from bricks made from the excavated clay from this quarry in 1968.

By pressing hand-made commercial clay tiles into the bricks of her home, Kristen now thinks about the significance of found clay and what it potentially represents for Indigenous culture. The brick pressings remain unglazed whereas the glazed areas around the brick on each tile represents the traditional tiles used in suburban homes.

About Kristen Radge

Kristen is a practice-led research artist based in Sydney, living and working on Guringai and Gadigal Land. She has an art practice in sculptural ceramics that responds to her experience on sites she has lived as a post- colonial settler on traditional lands.

Kristen is currently studying a Master of Fine Art by Research UNSW Art Design & Architecture and holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours 2021 and Master of Art 2020, UNSW. She has exhibited both locally and across Australia.

Top image: Kristen Radge, Guringai Bricks from my home (detail), 2024. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist.