Artefact: cog/machine/unknown

2018 - 2019

Begun in 2018 in Johannesburg, this was my first series of ceramic sculptures. My teacher had shown me only two fundamentals—how to roll and cut slabs, and how to join them. She also introduced me to a copper glaze, which I experimented with in layers, both over and under oxides. This was also the point at which I began using two-dimensional templates as patterns to cut the slabs. As I layered them up, modifying each consecutive slab incrementally, the objects grew more complex in form. Through these early works I was drawn into the alchemy of fire and chemistry, discovering how clay could be transformed into objects that felt both ancient and mysterious.