I produce ceramic sculptures that celebrate the responsiveness of both skin and clay, blurring the lines between body and object. The body is central to our understanding of the world, art should therefore remind us of what it feels like to inhabit it, forcing reflection on our corporeal being.
Clay mimics skin. Through hand-building, a membrane is formed, creating a barrier between inside and out. The bodily qualities of my work are further emphasised by the impressions of my own hairs and fingerprints, as well as the natural folds of the clay.
The works are one-off pieces that come together to create variable scenes. Ceramic ‘stage props’ play between two and three dimensions, placing fragmented figures in a domestic setting alongside more obscure ‘body objects’ such as fleshy and bruised columns. The fragmented bodies simultaneously hark back to classical times and pose a contemporary view; outwardly male in appearance, they do not depict an ideal body but rather create opposition to the long-held tradition of the female form as both subject and object.
