The dreamtime story of Waan and how he turned black had always fascinated me, nearly everytime I see Waan I instantly think of this story. It?s also so interesting how many mobs have very similar stories involving the raven and the connection to fire. I have been dreaming of making a piece telling this story of Waan and how he went from a white bird to black one, for so long. So, when I first seen the large kilns at RMIT that we had access too, I knew instantly what I wanted to make for Blak Design, a large vessel of flames with Waan at the top.

Artist Bio

Sean Miller
(Gamilaroi)
Pronouns: he/him
b. 1965, based on Wurundjeri Country

Sean Miller is a proud Gamilaroi man, exploring his heritage through ceramics, woodwork, painting and photography. For Sean, working in clay and wood creates a tangible connection to Country, where his ancestors culturally and artistically shaped the ground and carved trees for ceremony.

Sean started working with ceramics in 2011 while incarcerated at Loddon Prison. Through The Torch Program he exhibited his first works in the annual Confined exhibition. This led to a ceramics commission, acquired for the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2013-2014 Melbourne Now exhibition.

Sean was a finalist in Shepparton Art Museum’s 2016 Indigenous Ceramic Award, with the work acquired by SAM. In 2020, Sean won the Emerging Artist Award at the Koorie Heritage Trust’s Koorie Art Show. In 2022, Sean won the South-East Australian Aboriginal Artist Prize at the Shepparton Art Museum’s Indigenous Ceramic Awards, while the NGV acquired another work exhibited in KHT’s 2022 Koorie Art Show.