Artist Statement
ECLOSION
ECLOSION | ɪˈkləʊʒən | noun:
“The moment the butterfly leaves the cocoon is called eclosion. The moment in-between being fully formed yet not completely unfolded.”
Mottled porcelain forms with wings straining against the confines of clay are dedications to the process of eclosion: the emergence of an insect from a cocoon or egg. Eternal hatchlings breaking the pupal wall, Barker’s forms are objects of the threshold (Olivia Barrel, CLAY FORMES 2023)’
This award-winning vessel (2021) focuses on the in-between, the transition between what was and what will be. That moment when you come out of the cocoon, the eclosion. Fully formed and beautiful yet still in the process of becoming.
This too has relevance to ancient society life cycles, whereby the archaeologist excavate the various strata of an ancient landscape. The layers of these societies, closely mimics that of the life cycle of a butterfly, where there is a period of abundance, destruction, rest and lastly, incubation - a period of eclosion when a new society starts again.
NUHATIMMU
The driving force behind this work is rooted in my graduate studies in Mesopotamian archaeology, which focuses on the Yale Babylonian culinary tablet, formally known as YOS 11 25 and Bronze age cooking pots. My extensive knowledge of Mesopotamian material culture, as well as my experience of working with ancient ceramics, greatly influences my vessels.
My research is based on a constant search for the best way to interpret and re-create the ideas I have about ancient cooking and the pots and cooking systems ancient people used to cook in and on. In order to do this, I cannot limit myself to one medium, style or concept. Each piece I create is simultaneously an extension to the ancient past, as well at the same time, it is also a preview of where we are going in the future, a full circle in a way. In order to facilitate this connection to the Ancient past, I picked up special stone shaped tools during my last excavation at Hazor, Israel. These stone tools were used extensively in shaping the cooking pots, as I imagined this was done in the past.
I created the cooking pots and stove, during a six-week ceramic residency at IMISO studios, co-owned by Andile Dyalvanne and Zizipho Poswa. During this time, I not only made the cooking system, I also recreated and cooked one of the recipes found on the ancient cuneiform tablet, called Tuhu lamb stew.
I SEE YOU
This body of work was first conceptualized during my recent international art residency in France 2020 with Dr. Wendy Gers. It mainly focuses on ancient beehives and the Bee goddess. I have created this body of work to explore the mother goddess and the connection between women and the role of the queen bee. Some of these vessels formed part of the 2021 ‘Nature Morte-Still from life’, Rupert Museum in collaboration with Eclectica Contemporary.
The relationship between humans and bees goes back to prehistoric days with the oldest reference to gathering honey dating from 10 000 BC, where honey was the first food offered to the gods. The Bee goddess brings together mythological symbols and sacred meaning from across the world. She is a creator a giver of life, the creative source, wisdom, beauty, power and grace. I believe that women are ‘queen bees’, essential to creating children, families, and friendships. Like the hives houses the Queen bee, so too does the female body house the creator spirit. Each unique to the Queen bee, no two the same.
These metaphoric beehives reflect the diversity of female figures. Each vessel is traversed by a void, that for me references a sacred umbilical cord that connects us all. This ongoing body of work consist of multiple elements. It includes porcelain vessels that may allude to ancient hives. These are in dialogue with delicate porcelain leaves of floral imprints that were collected during springtime in France and South Africa. The vessels are a mixture between unglazed and glazed porcelain, formed by pinched layers of coils that simultaneously evoke strata and traps the human imprint that renders the gesture of labor indelible. The ceramics are a marker of civilization that is often associated with cultural prowess and progress.
DRAGON VESSEL
In 2019. she was also awarded the Ceramics South Africa (Western Cape) - New Signatures Award. Judged by Kate Malone.
The vessel is marbled terracotta and porcelain clay.