Ken Thaiday Snr facts for kids
Ken Thaiday (born in 1950), also known as Ken Thaiday Snr, is a famous artist from Erub (Darnley Island). Erub is one of the beautiful Torres Strait Islands in Australia.
Ken Thaiday is well-known for creating special headdresses called dhari, as well as masks and shark totems. He also makes amazing kinetic sculptures. These artworks are very important because they show his island's traditions and culture.
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Ken Thaiday's Early Life
Ken Thaiday was born in 1950 on Erub Island. He belongs to the Meriam Mir people, who are part of the Torres Strait Islander community.
His father, Tat Thaiday, was a respected leader in their culture. He was a choreographer (someone who creates dances), a songwriter, and a gardener. When Ken was young, dhari headdresses were a big part of traditional Torres Strait Islander ceremonies. Ken has shared that dance is very important to him, and he believes his father was one of the best choreographers.
Ken went to school on Thursday Island until he was fifteen. After that, his family moved to Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia. He worked for Queensland Rail for over ten years. He also worked in the mining industry in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This experience of putting together and taking apart machines later helped him create sculptures with moving parts.
Connecting with Culture and Community
Ken Thaiday is very active in his community. He leads and takes part in many important events on the Islands. One of these is The Coming of the Light. This event celebrates when Christianity first arrived on Erub in 1871. Ken was the Chairman for this event for five years.
He is a very religious person and believes that God inspires his artwork. His creations often show Kernus, which is the place where the missionaries landed on Erub. They also often feature the church on Erub.
Ken is also a mentor to many other Torres Strait Island artists. He loves sharing his deep knowledge of the sea and Islander traditions. This includes strong connections with animals, which are very important in his culture.
His Amazing Artwork
In the late 1980s, Ken Thaiday moved back to Cairns. There, he started the Loza Dance Group with other Torres Strait Islanders. This is when he began making special items for dances. In 1987, he started building "mobilised artefacts" for the Darnley Island Dance Troupe. These items are linked to old traditions and family identity.
Later, he started making art in a more modern style. He often uses new materials like plastic, plywood, and paint. But he also still uses traditional materials such as bamboo and feathers.
Ken is most famous for his shark headdresses. The shark is his special animal, or totem, especially the hammerhead shark, known as beizam. In Torres Strait Islander culture, some sharks represent law and order. His art also includes native birds and fish. Some of his creations can move, allowing dancers to make parts of them move during performances.
In 2006, Ken spent three months at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, France. In 2009, he gave a Beizam mask to the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. In the same year, he gave a talk at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia in the US.
Awards and Recognition
Ken Thaiday has received many important awards for his art.
Red Ochre Award
The Australia Council for the Arts is a group that helps fund and advise on arts in Australia. Since 1993, they have given out the Red Ochre Award. This award goes to an outstanding Indigenous Australian artist (either Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) for their lifetime achievements in art.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | himself | Red Ochre Award | Awarded |
In late 2016, Ken Thaiday received an honorary doctorate from the University of Sunshine Coast. This was to recognise him as the "most distinctive artist of the Eastern Torres Strait".
In 2020, Ken Thaiday was one of six Indigenous artists featured in the ABC TV series This Place: Artist Series. This TV show was made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Gallery of Australia. In the series, they visited the homes of some of Australia's greatest Indigenous artists to share stories about their art, their land, and their communities.
Exhibitions and Art Collections
Ken Thaiday's artwork has been shown in over 50 exhibitions. These have been in galleries both in Australia and around the world. Some of these places include:
- Queensland Art Gallery
- National Museum of Australia
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
- Musée des Confluences, France
- National Gallery of Australia
- Parliament House Art Collection in Canberra
- Queensland Museum
- Art Gallery of NSW
- Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK
- Museum of Victoria
- Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney
- Oceanographic Museum of Monaco
In 2014, Ken Thaiday created a large art display at Carriageworks in Sydney. It included a huge sculpture and new dances. In 2016, he worked with artist Jason Christopher on several daris for the Taba Naba exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. In the same year, he was invited to show his work at the Sydney Biennale, where he again worked with Jason Christopher. His art was also part of the National Gallery's 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, called Defying Empire, in 2017.
