Ceramic, steel wire

"After the Earthquake" is a reaction to the destruction caused by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023. Working with large clay slabs present all sorts of physical and logistical difficulties, so rather than working huge, I chose to work with small modules (which might evolve into larger scale work in the future). In general, working in clay presents some challenges which come from the material itself, but also because of its lack of immediacy; you don't know what you have made until it's in its final form. For example, although I made sketches and tests, I couldn't really know what 40 or so of my units would look like wired together after they had been fired. So originally, I envisioned each rectangular unit as an apartment and imagined wiring them together to form apartment buildings in various states of destruction. After the units were fired, however, I found the result neither interesting nor evocative and ended up with a more random configuration that was less literal and more destroyed.

Originally, I imagined putting tiny people into each apartment. Even if they wouldn't be visible in the final piece, their presence would be there, because to me the piece as a whole represents not just the material destruction caused by the earthquakes; it symbolizes how the lives of the people affected were torn apart and lost. And then, as you see, I decided tens of little people were too concrete in a way, and not necessary.