Tracy Keith
Nō Te Taitokerau ia
Ko Te Rarawa te iwi
Ko Ngātokimatawhaurua te waka
Ko Te Whanga ō Tauranga te moana
Ko Hongi Hika tōku tupuna
Ko Marae Te Inototo tana tamahine
Ka moe ia i a Stephen Wrathall
Ka puta Ko tōku papa
Ko Wiremu Shaw tōna ingoa
Ko Tracy Keith ahau
Artist Statement
"Understanding the history and whakapapa of clay helped me practise a holistic attitude towards the development of this work, the organic responses to fabricated forms and shapes or the way the medium stretches and contracts. Accepting that weathered shapes and surfaces are at harmony with the simple bowl form gives me a platform to treat these works more like sculpture than pottery. The uneven surface of each piece references the weathered and layered structures of the land and the impact of human activity and industry"
Tracy Keith’s unique sculptural ceramics evoke memories of whenua reflecting something at once primaeval and timeless. Raised in Tokoroa, Keith talks about his memories of the influence the pulp and paper timber industry significantly affected the residents’ way of life. To signal this experience, he imprints abstracted shapes on his works that represent symbols such as bones and sockets. Keith reflects that “the whakapapa of industry is in our blood. People don’t always live by their tūrangawaewae , because they follow work, which can lead to the deterioration of culture.” This is one example of many towns in New Zealand that were established in order to serve a major industry such as paper mills, smelters and freezing works. Their largely Māori and Polynesian workforces became the local inhabitants who often relocated there for work, some of whom have remained, but most have moved on to other industries and towns.
Keith’s works also appear to embody the heavy industrial foundations these towns grew from. Their crude appearance reflects the stresses and extremes that working in these factories and living in these communities brought with them. Many of his vessels show cracks and ruptures from the firing process – physically representing what Keith describes as the ‘breaks’ that many families had from their ancestral lands in order to relocate for work opportunities.
An artist who works predominantly in raku clay, Keith stretches, pushes and moulds his forms combining an organic sensibility with shapes and embellishments that at times resemble machine parts. As the artist says “the uneven surface of each piece references the weathered and layered structures of the land and industry as an intrusive entity. The molten glazes and metallic hues give each vessel its own character and reflects the relationship between industry and whenua (earth)”.
The artist adapts the physical qualities of clay and the ancient Japanese raku firing technique to represent his understanding of whakapapa and experiences of te ao Māori The Māori world view) within current times. Keith has a Whitecliffe College of Art and Design Master of Fine Arts.
