Thanakupi and her legacy in Cape York arts

As the Black Wattle grows across this continent, Thanakupi (1937-2011) would be destined to be known in every corner. Her name ‘Thanakupi’ is derived from the Thainakuith word ‘Than Cupi’ which describes one of the Black Wattle sub-species, rare to the Western Cape of Cape York Peninsula. ‘Than’, as she is affectionately known, was a young woman in her thirties when she would move to the “big smoke”, Sydney, for art school—a move almost unheard of for remote blak artists at the time (if ‘blak artists’ was even an honest concept to Australia then). Than—or, Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher James AO as she is formally known—is Australia’s pre-eminent ceramicist and a world-renowned potter. She hailed from Napranum (which has been called Jessica Point or Weipa South), a small coastal town on Cape York Peninsula, in Tropical North Queensland (TNQ).

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