Janet Fieldhouse
Janet Fieldhouse is an artist who creates objects using ceramic clay and found materials. Her works are a reflection of her matrilineal connections to various Torres Strait Islander communities such as Badu (Mulgrave), Muau (Moa), Kirri (Hammond) and Erub (Darnley) Islands. She also incorporates ideas and experiences from her father's European heritage. Her artworks are influenced by family, culture, storytelling, and interactions with First Nation peoples. In her creative process, she combines Western ceramic techniques with inspiration from First Peoples' pottery practices in the Pacific and the Americas.
As a Torres Strait Islander woman, I acknowledge our traditions of navigation, the ancient practice of scarification on the body to signify clan affiliations, identifying our totems, living off the sea and the land, and women’s traditional practices, such as weaving body adornments for ceremony, dance, hunting and gardening. I also acknowledge the cultural materials, ritual of society, religion and artefacts which are created to fulfil the functional and spiritual needs of the people of the Torres Strait.
Janet Fieldhouse