Ningyo porcelain figure & divination bowl

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Ningyo. Earthenware, porcelain, cobalt. 145mm (L) x 40mm (W) x 45mm (D)

A 'Ningyo' is a mermaid or fish-like creature from Japanese folklore. This porcelain sculpture references this in figurative style, and the use of pattern; also referencing wider instances of mermaid mythology through the inclusion of an image of a western sailing ship on the figure. The small scale of the piece references another Japanese tradition - that of 'Netsuke': the production of very small sculptural objects. The blue renderings resemble tattoos, another Japanese tradition; but also a maritime tradition that crosses cultural boundaries. The blue colour also references numerous decorative porcelain traditions (Delft, Chinese blue-ware, Willow etc.); as well as magical tattooing practices, such as the blue facially tattooed women of the Aures Mountains region of northeastern Algeria, who believe that tattoos provide protection, luck and beauty.

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

Ann-Marie Tully, Divination bowl: Mermaid peregrinations. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (diameter) x 60mm (D)

This porcelain bowl references a broad spectrum of mermaid mythology by way of inclusion of an Ukiyo-e mermaid image, juxtaposed with images drawn from San rock art that appears to represent fish-like people, and freshwater mormyrid fish - pointing to the many cultural instances of myths of fish-human transmogrification in human cosmology. The format of a 'divination bowl' is a reference to magical practices such sortilege - the casting and interpretation of lots, or sortes (sticks, stones, bones, etc.) in search of answers to life’s conundrums; and augury - the qualitative assessment of shapes and proximities, for example the examination of dismembered animal remains in search of supernatural portents.

'Singing bones', cobalt paintings on bone china fossils

Ann-Marie Tully, Singing Bones: Thomas Shelby. Bone china. 40mm (H) x 80mm (L) x 
60mm (W)

Ann-Marie Tully, Singing Bones: Polly Shelby. Bone china. 60mm (H) x 80mm (L) x 55mm (W)

Ann-Marie Tully, Singing Bones: Lieutenant-Colonel William Nutt. Bone china. 95mm (H)
 x 150mm (L) x 70mm (W)

Ann-Marie Tully, Singing Bones: Rommel. Bone china. 50mm (H) x 120mm (L) x 70mm (W).

The Singing bones series of works are literally fossils, produced through dipping and coating found and collected animal skulls and bones in a customised porcelain (china) slurry. The coated skulls then go through a process of firing that ‘releases’ the bone remains, leaving behind the ‘porcelain jacket’, and some residual bone matter: rendering the pieces as bone china. The title 'Singing bones' is a reference to the life stories that bones bear witness to. Further to these animal stories, I add a palimpsestual layer of populist, historical, and mythical human narratives. The characters painted onto the skulls tend to suit the type of skull, for example pairing a raptor skull with a soldier, and small-time gangster’s face with a small herbivore skull. The subjects tend to be compromised and complex anti-heroes, whose circumstances shaped their existence, much like the bones. Bones are elements of divination in many shamanic cultures, telling stories. These bones tell (sing) multiple stories: that of the animals that once ‘clothed’ and inhabited them, the human stories they have become surrogates for, and the ineffable fate of all who view them.

'Bushido delft', cobalt on porcelain paintings

Ann-Marie Tully, Bushido delft III. Porcelain, cobalt,. 230mm diameter.

Ann-Marie Tully, Bushido delft II. Porcelain, cobalt,. 230mm diameter.

Ann-Marie Tully, Bushido delft I. Porcelain, cobalt,. 230mm diameter.

The term 'Bushidō', refers to the Samurai code of chivalry, literally meaning 'the way of the warrior’. These delft-style porcelain discs break with the ceramic blue-ware tradition of ‘easy' decorative subject matter, employing more challenging cultural subject matter: in this instance that of Samurai warriors and 'Onna-bugeisha' [female samurai].

'Congo delft', cobalt on porcelain paintings

Ann-Marie Tully, Congo delft: there be dragons. Porcelain, cobalt. 

180mm (H) x 235mm (W) x 30mm (D) 

This delft-style porcelain plaque breaks with the ceramic blue-ware tradition of ‘easy' decorative subject matter, employing more challenging cultural subject matter: in this instance a representation of mercenary troops from South Africa during the 1960’s Congo mercenary war, drawn from a personal archive. The source image does not include a river scene, which is included in the artwork to forge a ink with Joseph Conrad's harrowing tome of a journey up the Congo river in 1890, The Heart of Darkness. The presence of an oriental dragon - such as might be found in oriental blue-ware - in the Congo river, front the mercenary soldiers standing on a barge, is a reference to the inclusion of dragon images and the phrase 'here be dragons’ at the edges of old European maps, indicating unknown regions, and fear of the unknown. This fear of the non-western world is central to Conran’s book, and was certainly a theme for soldiers during the 1960’s Congo Mercenary war. The dragon on this plaque represents this fear, but also the threat imposed by colonialism in Africa - in particular the brutal history of Belgian colonialism in the Congo; and the American imperialism that operated surreptitiously behind the scenes of the 1960’s Congo mercenary war. While the mercenaries are a poised counterpoint to the dragon in the image, they are not the 'dragons' of this tale, rather they represent compromised figures, mere mortals in the grip of titanic political actions. This is an important theme of this body of work: asserting the mirky grey line* of human pursuit in the deluge of time.

*The 'grey line' is the term for the band around the Earth that separates daylight from darkness.

'Redneck delft', cobalt on porcelain paintings

Ann-Marie Tully, Redneck delft I. Porcelain, cobalt. 300 x 300mm.

The North American slang, 'redneck', refers to a working-class white person with reactionary political views, hailing from a rural area. This delft-style porcelain plaque breaks with the ceramic blue-ware tradition of ‘easy' decorative subject matter, employing more challenging cultural subject matter: in this instance a representation of the fictional 'redneck' character, Rust Cohle, played by Matthew McConaughey, (an actor who has become the arbiter of redneck-chic) from the first season of the HBO crime drama series True Detectives (2015).