Bedforms exhibition
7-21 February 2025
Presented by Cool Change Contemporary and Perth Festival. Pakenham Street Art Space, Walyalup/Fremantle, Western Australia.
Presented by Cool Change Contemporary and Perth Festival. Pakenham Street Art Space, Walyalup/Fremantle, Western Australia.
Bedforms is a journey into the heart of family, culture, and tradition, expressed through the timeless medium of ceramics and contextualised by more recent forays into photography, video, and installation. Ambitious in scope, this exhibition will mark the first major solo presentation of Chongwe’s work, curated by Cool Change co-founder Grace Connors.
Developed while Chongwe undertook an artist residency at Modzi Arts in Lusaka in 2024, the new works in this exhibition consider her time spent reconnecting with family and observing traditional potters in Zambia. For the artist, this is not only a personal journey but a way to celebrate and preserve a cultural heritage at risk of being lost, with many of Zambia’s remarkable female potters approaching elderly age with no successors to their craft, and with the threats posed by urbanisation and technological advancements to traditional ways of life.
Chongwe is guided by a multi-generational connection to ceramics, from her great-great-grandmother, a practising potter in Zambia, to her father, renowned ceramicist Njalikwa Chongwe of Zinongo Gallery (Walyalup/Fremantle). She works primarily with stoneware clays to produce sculptural forms, experimenting with raku firing and traditional techniques to create unique and often unexpected surface treatments. Through this practice, combined with her teaching of ceramics workshops, Chongwe aims to deepen the understanding and appreciation of diverse cultural narratives from the perspective of her Australian-Zambian heritage.
Developed while Chongwe undertook an artist residency at Modzi Arts in Lusaka in 2024, the new works in this exhibition consider her time spent reconnecting with family and observing traditional potters in Zambia. For the artist, this is not only a personal journey but a way to celebrate and preserve a cultural heritage at risk of being lost, with many of Zambia’s remarkable female potters approaching elderly age with no successors to their craft, and with the threats posed by urbanisation and technological advancements to traditional ways of life.
Chongwe is guided by a multi-generational connection to ceramics, from her great-great-grandmother, a practising potter in Zambia, to her father, renowned ceramicist Njalikwa Chongwe of Zinongo Gallery (Walyalup/Fremantle). She works primarily with stoneware clays to produce sculptural forms, experimenting with raku firing and traditional techniques to create unique and often unexpected surface treatments. Through this practice, combined with her teaching of ceramics workshops, Chongwe aims to deepen the understanding and appreciation of diverse cultural narratives from the perspective of her Australian-Zambian heritage.
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Exhibition opening:
6:00 – 9:00 PM Friday, 7 February 2025 w/ DJ Makonde Free |
Artist talk:
6:00 – 7:00 PM Tuesday, 18 February 2025 Free |
Panel discussion:
Summit (Session 2): Repatriation and Rebellious Objects 3:15 – 4:30 PM Saturday, 22 February 2025 Perth Town Hall (601 Hay Street, Koorari/Perth CBD) Ticketed |