Stoneware ceramic sculpture finished with satin glaze and spraypaint.

Signed on the back.

This sculpture is the 2022 winner of the Bluethumb Sculpture Prize and was a finalist in the Du Rietz Art Award 2022. Loribelle Spirovski, part of the Bluethumb judging panel said, “It was incredibly difficult to judge this year’s entries. It was wonderful to see many new and exciting artists entering the sculpture category and to see the sheer variety and calibre of works that were submitted.”
My fellow judge, Tamara Dean, said of the winning work in this category, "An elegant and evocative merging of forms. I love the simple layered material curves echoing that of the human form resting on the bone-like form." I’m delighted, therefore, to announce the winner of the 2022 Bluethumb Art Prize Sculpture category award to Jodi Stewart for the artwork, Revival. Congratulations.”

My work is about ambiguity and duality, life and death, body and spirit. The drapery signifies concealment and exposure, the veil between life and death, truth and fantasy. The bones are the hard realities we sometimes like to cover up.
My recent sculptural work has focused on using draped ceramic forms that are a metaphor for flesh, spirituality and the human experience. I also carve and mould, in clay, the contrasting textures of wood and bone. The complexity of the folds of fabric, and the subtleties of white on white, are issues that have captivated many artists before me. The complex and ambiguous shapes of drapery are sensually appealing. The visual attraction of the flowing curves and different textures of the work invite touch and compel the viewers gaze to trace the lyrical lines of the sculpture, emphasising the sensuality of the material and form.
The drapery partly conceals the bone and this issue of concealment and whitewashing is currently being highlighted and worked out in our culture in relation to various forms of abuse and oppression, including sexual abuse and reclamation of Indigenous history. History is written by the victors and overlaid over the bare reality of what actually happened.

This artwork is currently available from Bluethumb's Melbourne gallery in Bridge Rd, Richmond.