Private Collection

Stoneware Clay

This work explores the emerging field of Epigenetics. Colours, textures and depth vary in an attempt to convey the metamorphic nature of ourselves and how our genes respond to our environment. We are in constant flux and our notion of the self is predicated on our surrounding context. We all respond to context in different ways.

What makes these same stretches of DNA sequence more or less colourful, protruding and expressed? What are the contributing external factors? We are more interdependent with our environment in a more profound way then we first realised. This is something that should be whole-heartedly embraced and understood.

Ceramics has a very important part to play in expressing this idea. It is very prone to succumbing to touch and capable of freezing human gestures. This restores a vital humanity to a scientific field that is often overwhelmed by the enormous quantity of data required to extrapolate conclusions. Just as the clay is influenced through an external pressure by the artist, the environment exerts its influence on our chemical composition.