Installation

This body of work explores the use of newly formed cultural hybrid forms and reconstructed found objects with embodied history to signify personal and cultural identity. Author Jonathon Friedman commented that cultural and personal identities are established in a similar manner- they are both contextually formulated and signified through the body.  My birth and life is ‘contextually formulated’ in Africa yet I am of a Diaspora as my ancestors originated from Britain and Europe. My white body classifies me as ‘European’ yet my identity has been formed in Africa. A person of colour who is born in America is called an Afro American. Therefore as a white person born in Africa, am I a Euro African?

Clay has symbolically been used throughout the collection of work. It is a material which is used by all types of people, in many cultures and all over the world, giving it a universal identity. Ceramic pots are known as a metaphor for the human body, they carry ‘symbolic association with containment, and as such they refer to a potential capturing of life force and Spirit.  

The group of work contains seven pieces, namely:

‘Birth’, a traditionally shaped African vessel namely an ‘ukhamba’ (a Zulu pot), contains shards of Delft pottery from Holland and blue and white pottery from Britain. From the fragments a newly formed object emerges.

 ‘I am Within’ is an authentic ‘ukhamba’ with a crocheted cloth ‘hanging over’ it. A hole in the wall reveals a small self portrait, suggestive of a Victorian cameo broach, suspended within.

‘Hybrid and Functional’ contains four British made plates with superimposed South African imagery that has been transferred onto the plates to create a new ‘trans-cultural’ mix.

‘Historical Reservoir-You are Highly Esteemed’ presents five newly formed vessels on a Western ball and claw coffee table. The pots’ shapes stem from an ‘ukhamba’, used to signify that I am of and contained in Africa. Images have been transferred into the vessels showing how one’s cultural heritage remains a part of one’s identity.

‘Journey Within’ is a form which defines the present, revealing the journey of truth and freedom.

‘I am Functional’ reflects a new cultural identity and invites the viewer to sit on it.

‘See Me’ asks a viewer to engage with the forms and discover their internal meaning.

'Hybrid and Functional' contains four British made plates with superimposed South African imagery that has been transferred onto the plates to create a new ‘trans-cultural’ mix.

‘Journey Within’ is a form which defines the present, revealing the journey of truth and freedom.