Lumplandia: Becky Richards

Lumplandia imagines an archipelago inhabited by artist Becky Richards’ clay creatures. These new large-scale sculptures pay homage to the naturally occurring landforms, plants, and textures found in nature. Richards’ practice involves pulling this visual data from everyday life and translating it into these new fictional environments.

Humour is a key component of Lumplandia and for Richards, ‘humour is critical to staying sane.’ Nature, after all, can be quite absurd – the existence of blobfish, sausage dogs, pink-coloured lakes and rainbows are proof of this. Next time you go outside, take a moment to see for yourself.

The critters in Lumplandia experience both good and bad hair days, their bodies are adorned with glazes, they sport love (or lug) handles, and feature surfaces that bear the marks of thorough handling. They might listen to Mort Garson's 'Plantasia' during the day and plan their Spring Break getaway to SpongeBob SquarePants’ Bikini Bottom by night. The islands they inhabit teeter on the brink of bursting into life.

Becky Richards (1988) is an artist, writer and educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is the Founder and Director of MUD Studios, the editor of Ceramics New Zealand magazine and has an MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts (2019).

^{Becky Richards, Lumplandia (detail), 2023. Image courtesy of the artist.}