I am an artist and archaeologist by heart and trade. Archaeology inspired my venture into clay, but it took a while for the two, to settle in together, in myself. I excavated for many years and the joy of finding pottery artifacts created thousands of years ago in strata of soil, has formed the basis of my work. Layers of thin porcelain coils or broken and reconstructed moulds reflect this.
When we excavate the artifact, it is broken and caked in ancient mud and only after washing the pottery, the real beauty and meaning are revealed. Only then, do you really see the art. Archaeology is destruction. But to accumulate new knowledge, you have to dig deeper. Being an artist is the same, we also “dig” deep within ourselves, to understand that, which is around us.
My conceptual work is deeply embedded in how this search within us, is also a destruction of sorts, of ego, to go deeper. When an artifact is created in ancient times, the use of the artifact, is only known to the maker, this is also true for the place it was created in. In the event of abandonment, the artifact and place/landscape are covered in layers of earth for thousands of years. The only time that an artifact, and the integrity of the place, and it’s true purpose stay intact, is when it remains unexcavated. But after excavation, the artifacts use is now shaped and imagined by the archaeologist. The interior landscape of the scholar interacts with the artifact and simultaneously with the exterior landscape in which it is found. Which in turn, gives new meaning to the object and place. I feel that my ceramic practice, is similar.