‘Frivolity and Fire,’ Cita Daidone

Burnt sticks, logs and ash washed up along the sands of local Jervis Bay beaches, the flotsam and jetsam of the Currowan fire, are the impetus for the creation of these works.

Working with these forgotten bits of the burnt bush, Cita created clay moulds of these intricate forms. Twigs and burnt animal bones are arranged meticulously and reverently in a way that flowers might be laid at a gravesite to acknowledge and pay respect to the unfathomable number of trees, insects and wildlife lost in the fires. Each square porcelain panel acts as a memento mori to the Black Summer bushfires.

For more than thirty years Cita has worked as an artist and art educator across a wide range of community and educational settings. She currently works in Community Service teaching creative workshops to a diverse range of groups in the Shoalhaven region. For the past 5 years she has focused more of her creative energy into Ceramics setting up a studio practice in her home in Nowra.