2021

Positioned in close relationship without touching, two biomorphic, abstract figures lean towards each other, yearning but never meeting. The negative space between the figures creates both distance and unity, tension and tenderness, sadness yet hope. Whether the figures are lovers, a parent and child, gay, straight, trans, brothers, sisters, black or white, they symbolise love, hope and sadness in their most elemental form, providing an opportunity to reflect on the anxiety and grief caused by environmental destruction, yet offering solace and hope in love and compassion.

Hand built with white stoneware clay and then fired using a traditional saggar method using a combination of recycled and organic materials (koala poo, macadamia nut shells, rosemary, seaweed, fruit skins, leaves, salt, etc), as well as iron oxides and metal wire, the figures are marked in unique and distinctive ways. Fired in temperatures up to 1000 degrees Celsius, fire and earth meet and converse; the materials burn away differently leaving extraordinary colours and patterns that would be hard to replicate in any other way, and appearing to not only ‘freeze’ the smoke and fire on the surface of the sculptures, but capturing the hope that the figures symbolise.