Title
Beizam (shark) dance mask
1996
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Beizum (shark) dance mask
- Place where the work was made
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Cairns
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Queensland
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Australia
- Date
- 1996
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- plywood, black bamboo, string, plastic, paint, glass, feathers
- Dimensions
- 86.7 x 106.0 x 71.0 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Mollie Gowing Acquisition fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1997
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 4.1997
- Copyright
- © Ken Thaiday
- Artist information
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Ken Thaiday
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The Torres Strait Islands are situated between Cape York in Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Ken Thaiday was born on Erub (Darnley Island), in the eastern group of the Islands. Thaiday's childhood on Erub involved fishing for crayfish, coral trout and mackerel, tending gardens of sweet potatoes, cassava and sugar cane, and participating in ceremonial performances at weddings, feasts and tombstone unveilings. Like many Islanders, Thaiday's family settled in Cairns on the mainland when he was a teenager. His father, Tat, was an important dancer, and as a young man Ken Thaiday attended dance ceremonies and made drawings and paintings that were the foundation of his later masks, headdresses, and hand-held 'dance machines'.
In 1987, Thaiday began constructing dance artefacts for the Darnley Island Dance Troupe. These 'mobilised artefacts', as he calls them, are used in ceremonial performances, and connect with Islander traditions and clan identity. Each island group has its own performances, and although using modern materials (e.g. plastic piping and enamel paint) these objects are used as they were in the past. Some are percussion instruments that feature the sun and evening stars rising and falling, or hibiscus plants opening and closing, or large wooden fish with painted scenes of island life that switch from day to night at the turn of a handle.
Thaiday's best known works are his hammerhead shark dance headdresses. These objects extend high above the dancer's head and down to the upper chest. They are made of wire, plastic, plywood and strips of black bamboo, and are decorated with a ruff of white feathers that represents the foam breaking as the shark surfaces. Animated by the dancer pulling on strings, the jaws of the shark-effigy snap open and shut, as if swimming in search of food. The gyrating dancers in the shark headdresses are an impressive and menacing sight. Torres Strait Islanders have a maritime salt water culture, and the shark is an important totem. Not only is the shark a food source, but it is also a symbol of law and order.
In constructing these objects, Thaiday is contributing to the ongoing cohesiveness and strength of Islander culture. They have a pivotal role in ceremonial life, especially in sacred performances that reach back to the Malu-Bomai spirituality of pre-colonial times, and reaffirm Islander culture's benign relationship with the supernatural.
George Alexander in 'Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004
© Art Gallery of New South Wales
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Places
Where the work was made
Cairns
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
A material thing - Objects from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Aug 1998–09 Feb 1999
Sharks: Predator and Prey, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, 19 Dec 2002–27 Jul 2003
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
Country Culture Community (2008-09), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Nov 2008–19 Apr 2009
Our spirits lie in the water, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 2014–01 Nov 2015
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Bibliography
Referenced in 10 publications
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George Alexander, Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia, 'Ken Thaiday', pg. 132, Sydney, 2004, 132, 133 (colour illus.).
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Grace Cochrane, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Cross-over: Two-way influences in contemporary Indigenous design’, pg. 261-269, Sydney, 2007, 269 (colour illus.).
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin, 'Yiribana Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Gallery', pg. 14-15, Sydney, May 1998-Jul 1998, 15 (colour illus.).
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), Exhibitions events - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 1998-Jan 1999, 10 (colour illus.). Educational brochure produced by the NSW Department of Education and Training as teaching resource for primary school teachers.
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Franchesca Cubillo, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 1984-2008: celebrating 25 years, 'Ken Thaiday Snr', pg. 178-181, Darwin, 2011, 179, 181 (colour illus.).
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art', pg. 208-241, Sydney, 1999, 241 (colour illus.).
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NSW Department of Education and Training, Speakers of Aboriginal English and the Year 5 Basic Skills Test 2002, Sydney, 2002, 12 (illus.).
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, A material thing - objects from the collection, Sydney, 1999, 2 (colour illus.).
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Hetti Perkins., Contemporary Aboriginal art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund, 'Gifted Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund', Sydney, 2006, (colour illus.). not paginated
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Lisa Slade and Rachael Kirsten, Enter Art, Sydney, 2000, sheet number 14 (colour illus.). Education kit produced by the NSW Dept of Education and Training as teaching resource for primary school teachers.
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