THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

Black glazed stoneware mirrors, steel framework, Jerwood Makers Open 2019

When prevailing discourses tip towards hyperbole, generalisations or simplification, there is a need to swim against the current, to carve out a space that allows for ambiguity, correspondence and a quieter voice. In the employment of few words, a scale of action or use of minimal materials, understatement can be both a way of confronting moments of crisis, or of evading them.
In the era of Trump’s ‘fake news’ or bots, big data and algorithmic newsfeeds it has become easier for tactical obfuscation, a ‘Post truth’ muddying of the waters. The public discourse has felt increasingly divisive, with each of us in echo chambers, our own views reflected back at us. Black mirrors simplify values and reflect shadows: The Black glazed surface of the ceramic mirror can disrupt the image; the variations of black glazes can refract the light differently and the translucency can reveal things within or inside the glaze. It also includes the viewer into the image on the surface. The thick black liquidity of glaze has the capacity to absorb the gaze.