all these three were presented in a pitch black room with a single spot light in a location that was partially under construction and had been ignored for a long time.
the reason for choosing a place such as this was that over the past few years, this thought has been growing onto me, that, the political condition of this country has been forgotten incessantly. everyone who steps to "power" tends to play with the tendons of this fragmented country as if it were their toys, and when they are
absconded from power, all the affairs lie in shambles.
there are many of us who would follow a party for the sake of loyalty despite knowing how the hardball is being played. twisted power struggles that leave the people and the economy strangled with no escape routes.
Pakistani politics just like their movies has had its round of applause, too early. too early have the leaders left us, too early have we become apathetic to the present situation, too early have we stopped caring for the freedom we take for granted.... too early have we let go.
This was a slip casting project and an introduction towards instillation art. We were required to chose objects of interest that could be slip-casted and be used in this instillation project.
I chose the cap of a perfume bottle (j adore by Christan Dior). standing alone, it almost has the appearance of a silent figure.
these were my mini instillation that act as individual pieces yet they are like small maquettes for every concept that accompanies them.
This instillation is called the 'Balance.' The modules hang loosely dipping either out or inwards of the sphere.
This instillation is a silent comment on power play called the 'Chess.'
'The Silent Dialogue.'
'The Evolution'
"Who', was my personal favorite out of all 6 instillation options. This instillation consists of 12 silent multiples. These pieces are hollow, and only one was glazed from the inside, yet on the outside all 12 look identical. These pieces were placed on a piece of glass which was elevated above a mirror that showed the inside of all the pieces.
The concept behind this piece was myself. i have always been very gullible when making friends, trust and dependability have always been very easy to offer, and i have suffered a lot, and learned a lot too. All people look the same, we can never know who they actually are. Life has taught me that there are soo many layers to the human mind that it is impossible to even try and fathom them all and surely impossible, almost self-indulgent to suppose that we know a person, because the truth is that we don't even know who we are, and a lot of times we may even surprise ourselves by our own actions when we dwell upon them in retrospect.
the first part of the assignment required a paper sculpture inspired by a given photograph. i used paper mache and crisp sheets of kite paper. along with ink, woolen thread and cardboard.
this was the second part of the assignment where we had to take the first part forward, incorporating a different style.
Rich puffs of invigorating aroma gurgling tenderly over a gentle flame, steady hands, impatient fingers tapping away softly at the counter, blurry thoughts, long nights and complex bites of life. It felt as if, it hid something somewhere within it’s brooding bubbling. Somewhere deep within its intoxication was an answer to the unfathomable. Magical, almost mythical is intoxication, just as ‘the unfathomable’ is alluring. Tea, almost magically landed into our lives when tea leaves mysteriously flew into Emperor Shen Nung’s cup of hot water on a cold raw morning around 2700 BC in China.
Tea itself and its uses have evolved since the days of old and yet unlike the ways of the ancient, It has never lost it’s demand. From traditions like the Sado (tea ceremony) and swanky tea parties to impeccably packed packets or more commonly referred to ‘tea bags’, tea has undoubtedly seeped into the finer fabric of life.
It became a curious thought for me that how little I had noticed tea’s lingering presence in my life. Well, being an obstinate coffee devotee, tea was never my choice. I was a late entry into tea’s lair. Only recently had my interest diverged towards it, probably after my first slip casting project. We were required to design a teapot. While discussing the project my teacher mentioned how having tea at her place required all manner of propriety and preparations, something I had only come to see at the end of formal dinners at my place. I thought, surly one could not be expected to set-up a proper tea-set along with a tea-cozy before tea, why would it demand such respect, it was after all only a beverage. I had to see for myself to understand.
I have come to believe, the true tea enthusiast would only be able to answer my questions. I on the other hand have only reached a state where I can appreciate and indulge in tea, be it green, black or any other color.
The project required us to design the teapot, produce it’s molds, formulate 1200̊c casting slip and glazes and the final teapots, fired to their temperature, and completely functional.
This was my very first multi-piece mold. Section .A labeled underneath was a the two piece section of the main body and spout of the teapot. Section .B labeled underneath was a one piece section of the lid rest and Section .C labeled underneath was a one piece section of the foot.
detailed and separated documentation during the mold making process labeled as per the already labeled sections:
Next step was formulating the casting slip and the glazes. A number of glazes were tested on a spare teapot :
Apart from the regular color experiments in plain base glazes i also tried experimenting with copper, rubbing oxides, glaze splashing, dipping, crazing, crackling glazes, Indian ink, pressure spraying and brushing.
One of the requirement was a clean teapot without any glaze on the outside.
the last two pictures underneath were just an experiment with form, wax emulsion and thick casting slip.
I have come to realize life is too short, and provides us with too few opportunity for us to waste. Too few for us to be able to label situations and things undesirable without even having to judge them or without even trying to connect with them and the pleasures they may behold.
out of the four styles used, one was selected to make a final piece. my inspiration was anna hole's work where she creates huge structures that form fire sculptures. they are covered with ceramic blankets and then fired once.
The final firing still remains. - this blog will be updated as soon as that happens.
5th semester started with a head long dive into the formulation of salt bodies that could be used for ‘The functional seats project’. This assignment encompassed everything, from the selection of a location for the outdoor seats (within the campus), inspiration, design, process, final completed seats to their final firings.
I felt I would like to design my seats for a place that was peaceful. A place, that would be comforting and inviting for quiet contemplation, something that I quite savor. For this purpose alone I chose a lonely corner with a few trees that had a beautiful foliage cover which would allow in screened sunlight and heat in the hot summers. My seats would be low and close to the ground since I felt that would be the best pose to feel and appreciate the view. By the view I mean the surrounding ambiance. The height of the trees along with their shimmering translucent leaves in the sunlight, the sharpness of stature and loftiness of the colonial architecture of the nassurwanje campus, the pond, the ever so populated canteen and the stretch of green.
It is around March that the best feature of the spot reveals itself to those who would be willing to connect. When the sun decides to shine down with all its might, huge shades of cream canvas are hung up to the many poles that adorn the grounds.
I chanced to discover its beauty myself one evening when I ended a 3 hour shift for a 1280̊c firing, and decided a short break was much needed. I randomly sat by that tree and closed my eyes trying a bit too hard, to block out life while vicious calculations of time and temperature scrutinized my patience, and thoughts of the gas kiln that boisterously rumbled away mercilessly disregarding any forms of punctuality eroded my peace. It was a delicate summer evening, a starry sky, and the sea breezes swept the grounds. It was their sweeping everything including the shades that precariously fluttered and made reverberating sounds that made me feel I was standing at a cliff with a lashing sea beneath me, and the furious wind whipping my clothes. It was a beautiful feeling, I suppose something that cannot be explained by mere words. Maybe all that I said sounds like a jargon of a confused or text with no subject matter. However, in all simplicity, the feeling was of peace like the quiet cooing of pigeons or rain drops falling on a tin roof or the smooth shifting of gears on a highway or the ruffling of dry leaves in the autumn winds or maybe like the silent sounds of a melodious river running its course.
Anyhow, the river drags me along to my inspirations for this project.River eroded pebbles, their cracks of erosion, rock strata, texture and color was my inspiration. How the water silently yet mischievous carves out niches from the pebbles, smoothes it, loves it, yet destroys it, and all the while defining beauty in all its devastation, sounded just like life. I realized during this project that exaggerations, subtlety, intricacy, sophistication and simplicity, these are traits are not easy to understand, yet nature so effortlessly employs them, and mocks us for our ignorance and foolish attempts towards uncovering it’s myths.
The seats had to have strength to withstand weight so a rib-cage like strength mechanism was formulated, something, that my teacher had suggested and it worked just fine. It was a working method that she had seen a fellow ceramist use to make her huge pieces during her residency in South Africa.
Although the project was exciting, and I had very high hopes, the result wasn’t close to what I had envisioned. I felt I could have done a much better job. In all, four pieces were erected out of which two decimated during their inception since the clay body was not plastic enough and apparently the scale was a big too large for it to handle.
(the pieces that did not survive)
The other two were then made from another clay body. From the remaining two that were completed and bisque, one developed a crack in the center of the seat but is still quite comfortable and strong enough to withstand a considerable amount of weight. The last piece, which is undoubtedly my favorite survived without any flaws.
These two still await their final fate in the wood kiln.
Paul Greenhalgh in the Fourth Annual Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture talked about: Social Complexity and the Historiography of Ceramic in which he mentioned Oscar Wilde’s ethical analysis of (Victorian) society. One of the points in that was, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
The discovery of oneself is, to me, the beginning of life. Only when one loses contact of their superficial self and transgresses through the norms of their past life, do they reach the path to self discovery. It is then that life ceases to exist as one knows it. What is right and what is wrong; these are just fragments of perception. And this is the time when people rethink their perspectives; while some might renovate them, others might totally reconstruct them. Once the bags are packed and the journey to self discovery begins, one realizes that the journey is one that will not end… ever. However, it is only this realization and a constant interest in oneself that leads an individual to the stage where he would start to be comfortable with himself and maybe even start to love himself. As much as I would love to agree to with the point I just mentioned, I would also like to add that I felt a bit of disdain and cynicism in few of the other points. There seems to be no belief in the feeling of righteousness. Truth only exists under the threat of detection, wickedness is a myth and those who separate the body and soul are body-less and soulless. Maybe, the author has an entire theory to support himself, but at this point I am not convinced. I have experienced that at some level a lot of people do have malice in them. I also truly believe in the existence of truth, although this belief leaves me quite disappointed at times but hope is a glorious thing. I believe hope is that one phenomenon that helps us in ways that we cannot even imagine. It is that one philosophy that uplifts a life even from the brink of destruction. The second part of the list summed up what decorative art should constitute. In this section one of the quotes that made a deep impact on me, was, “No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.” I felt no one could have expressed this better or in any other words. I feel this holds true if taken positively or negatively. The ‘mannerism of style’ comes from within, from loving and understanding yourself. Keeping true to your style or deviating from it deliberately is a personal choice which would be forgivable or not is a matter of perception. I also agree that “it is only the superficial qualities that last.” After a few years people tend to look at a piece of art and say “isn’t it beautiful,” rather than contemplate on what that piece was actually meant to communicate.
