I was chairing a meeting on Tuesday night as Hockey was handing down his horrible budget. As I was suggesting ways to facilitate world domination via clay, the LNP government was implementing ways to make Australia a most terrible place to live.
If you are young, disabled, on an aged pension, unemployed, indigenous or you are trying to raise a family on a low income, you are pretty well fucked.
I felt helpless and angry and I do not like feeling helpless.
Anger I can deal with, as I find a certain level of anger motivates me a bit and as I poke at the anger to find it’s true source I often come up with some good work or some fabulous scheme.
Yesterday I came up with both.
First for my fabulous scheme because it popped my bubble of anger and made me hug myself with happiness.
If you live in Tasmania and you are on any sort of centrelink payment and that payment is your main source of income, you can have any of my work for free.
Just go over to my Ceramic Gallery and have a look and see what you like and if there is something there that catches your fancy and if I have some in the studio you can have it. NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
I shall also be making a BUDGET RANGE. That won’t be budget work, it will be my VERY BEST work, but it will be in response to the budget. And it shall be super exclusive, so exclusive in fact that the Joe Hockeys and Tony Abbotts of this world will not be able to purchase any of it. But you, you the Tasmanian welfare recipient, it shall be yours.
And we can be poor and disdained and have beautiful things together.
I will have cups similar to these that are nice to use for either hot or cold drinks.
Spoons like these
Bowls like these
Skull beads of course, and maybe some buttons.
Because, be buggered if the nastiness that is happening at the top of Australia is going to trickle down to me.
I will counter the LNP meanness of spirit anyway I can.
And if you are prepared to wait six weeks or so, some of this work can be yours.
I do not like where my country is heading.
I do not like this attitude of kicking those less fortunate and so I REFUSE to participate.
I am DEADLY serious about this, PLEASE if you would like my work, just contact me and it is yours.
Now for the work I made yesterday in response to The Budget.
I give you Abbott The Disabler.
A hilarious side note to this article is, because I have The Stop Tony Meow plugin when I preview these images they turn into kittens, I now have a serious case of the giggles.
Anyhow, the sculpture/kittens above will be exhibited at the TCA annual exhibition in October at the Sidespace, as part of the Relics show.
Abbott and his motley crew of privileged asshats, is trying to take away everything that makes Australia good and he is leaving us with the only relics of our humanity.
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Kim, you are an endless source of inspiration! I would like to PURCHASE one of your (blue) bowls, because A) they are amazing, B) so are you, and C) you deserve to be supported also. Love you.
Thanks Jenn, you inspire me as well. YAY for mutual inspiration *grins*. I have an online shop if you want to buy things, but I only have tiny little blue bowls there. I can make you some though, easy peasy, if you have a certain size you would like?
Kim, do they have suspended coffee in Tassie? You could ask at venues that do to make these available for suspended coffee patrons. Words from Typhoons song “Honest Truth” always come to mind at times like these you’re nothing special,unless they are too”
We do have suspended coffee and there is a place in Salamanca Square that has suspended meals, where for $10 you can shout someone breakfast. I think suspended coffees are a fabulous idea 🙂 I haven’t heard the song but yes, that is the honest truth.
Kim, you, Abbott the Disabler (the clay version not the iron) and frog ponds all fucking ROCK
*grins* Thanks Sue 🙂
“young, disabled, unemployed, indigenous or trying to raise a family on a low income”
You forgot the elderly folks, those whose pensions have to stretch to cover not only food, clothing and utilities, but also the cost of all medications they must take.
But I like your idea of a Budget Range, it’s a very nice thing to do.
Just don’t budget yourself out of business, clay and kilns aren’t exactly cheap.
That gorgeous white cup deserves to be used for lovely thick hot chocolate.
I have updated the post to include the elderly, sorry about that oversight River. I promise I won’t budget myself out of business because my focus isn’t about making money so my ceramics practice is wholly sustainable no matter how much work I give away 🙂
Terrific response Kim.
thanks Anna
Congratulations to you for taking a stand on how you feel.
It sounds like Australia is trying to play catch up with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party!
Can’t write anything more or I’ll be foaming at the mouth.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Smartcat, it is terrible.
Love it … you are one of the first people to make me smile about this fucking budget!
*grins* my work here is done then.
I’d love to buy two of those bowls, they’re beautiful. Blues and bluey greens fill me with delight and always have. Your beautiful cups are still my two favourite items to drink from (and Ruthie’s too, if I can’t find one, I know to look in her room!)
Abbott the Disabler looks like a direct line descendant of Yog Sothoth, and that’s probably a fair summation…
Maybe you could email me about the bowls when you get a minute.
I don’t have any like that “in stock” at the moment Alison but I can make you a couple, easy peasy, just let me know what size and I can do some for you 🙂
Brilliant, I will email you 🙂
Just caught up with probably a few weeks worth of reading and fab, sometimes downright hilarious, pics. THANK you! We are all losers with Tony, even those who think they’re winning, for they have lost their humanity.
Yes we are all losers here, and I am pleased I made you smile, having a puppy is so much exhausting fun hehe
Kim you are bloody awesome!
I just wanted to say i loved your response to the budget was very well put, I wont even get started on Tony Abbot because quite frankly he makes my skin crawl.. I am one of the ‘lucky’ ones to benefit from the budget aka wiping out of a middle class in Australia. Ive suffered from ME/CFS & FIBROMYALGIA for 12 years spending a large portion of my life housebound which is how my business was born as I needed a job I could do at home when I had windows of energy no matter what time of the day or night they occurred so we set up a studio/workshop at my home, where after sleeping for 18 hours straight only to wake when my husband comes home from work I can often be found pouring candles in the middle of the night! This is truly a labour of love & after feeling rather useless for many years & a burden to my poor husband who married me where upon apparently i dont cost any money to medicate, feed, take to specialist etc so he has to support us both. So now I get to enjoy the feeling of creating something that brings enjoyment to someones life aswell as the pride that comes from being able to tell people I have my own small business as they just dont know how to take you when you dont work but dont have kids either :-/ Was pure chance that i stumbled upon your post so thanks for the laugh & think your idea of a “budget range” is brilliant, some things money cant buy! Us losers definitely need to stick together! 🙂
Hi Nikki. What a lovely image of you poring candles in the middle of the night. Of course, in my picture you’re doing it by candlelight because *romantic* but I’m sure that’s not the case 🙂 I too have had CFS for many years, and you have hit the nail on the head as to why the attitudes of the government are so frustrating and rageifying. It’s not that we don’t want to work; it’s that we must be able to do it on our own terms. To cut people off from the DSP makes it even HARDER for us to set up possible avenues of earnings, not easier. So ridiculously short-sighted and nasty that it doesn’t even bear thinking about anymore.
Best to you and your continued efforts to work within your means.