Insidious

Graduating Exhibition 2020

My work draws from an anthology of poems by Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar written 1500 years ago. Entwined in this narrative are references to personal memories of drought-ridden landscapes and recent encounters of charred, apocalyptic treescapes laid to waste. Central to my inquiry has been couplet 13, poignant in its writing, yet powerful in its warning to humanity. The poet reflects on drought, famine, starvation and resulting human suffering if there’s no rain.

The vessel forms embrace these bygone sentiments, standing witness to the extraordinary demands we place on the natural world sucking its pristine former self dry with reckless greed. They serve as metaphorical sentinels having faced extreme temperatures themselves, whilst the contrasting surfaces and textures imitate an overwhelmingly dry, cracked earth, parched and thirsty.

*Photography by Greg Piper