Photos of William Ricketts enigmatic spiritual sculptures of Aboriginal people photographed deep in the woods of the Dandenong Mountains Australia.
Photos of William Ricketts Sculptures
I happened upon the William Ricketts Sanctuary by accident when, by chance, I saw a poster of his sculptures in a small cafe. Set deep in the heavily wooded slopes of mount Dandenong William Ricketts sanctuary is a peaceful wild reserve. To take photos of the sculptures, you have to seek them out along pathways that plunge deep into the wood to create a spiritual experience.
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William Ricketts Sculpture Style
The subject of William Ricketts sculptures are the Aboriginal people depicted in a realistic Art & Crafts style. I visited the Sanctuary on an atmospheric misty day when nobody else was there, which seemed to heighten the mystic qualities of the sanctuary. Ricketts intended his sculptures to have spiritual meanings which, he claimed, were based on aboriginal culture.
Controversy Over William Ricketts Work
Ricketts sculptures are moving in many ways but they have caused much controversy particularly amongst the Aboriginal people. The aborigines depicted in the sculptures seem yo have a sense of well being, which clashes strongly with the appalling way the Aboriginal people have been treated in Australia. The sculptures in the photos seem to depict a people that is confident and at peace when the opposite is true.
Sacred Stone
These photos of Ricketts sculptures are from “Sacred Stone“, a panoramic black and white series I have been working on for a 20 years or so.
I took these black and white photos on Kodak Tr-X 36mm film. I felt that Tri-X was most appropriate for the Ricketts photos because it wanted to captured both the textures and atmosphere of the Sanctuary. I need the deep blacks and tonal quality of Tri-X to do the sanctuaries sculptures justice.
I hope you enjoy the photos and want to see more of William Ricketts Sacred Stone,
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About William Ricketts Sanctuary
William Ricketts (1898–1993) was an Australian potter and sculptor of the arts and crafts movement. Born in Richmond, Victoria, in 1898, William settled permanently in Mount Dandenong Victoria 1934.
From 1949 to 1960 he made frequent trips into Central Australia to live with Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte Aboriginal Australians, whose traditions and culture inspired his sculpture. He was not an Aboriginal by blood but considered himself adopted by the Pitjantjatjara nation.
William Ricketts Sculptures
Ricketts over 100 sculptures for the sanctuary over a period of 15 years. The sculptures were modelled out of clay then fired onto rocks in a purpose built kiln. They were then moved into place in the woods.
In 1964, the William Ricketts Sanctuary opened to the public, and later that decade, the Victorian Government bought the sanctuary, vowing to protect the sculptures and surrounding landscape. Bill died in 1993 at the age of 94.
Williams Ricketts & The Aboriginal People
William Ricketts was a naturalist, environmentalist and sculptor who dedicated much of his life to exploring the connection that Aboriginal people have with the natural world.
Ricketts is viewed to have a white saviour complex and is quoted as believing he had been ‘called to the defence of the aborigines and the continent. Ricketts talked of his own personal distress over the suffering of the Aboriginal People but some academics believe that his beliefs and his sculptures were steeped in racism,