Festus Group project/ Sculpture/black clay/30*40cm
This work was developed as part of Towards the Dark, a Festus group project responding to the dark period leading up to the Winter Solstice — a time historically associated with inward turning, ritual, and renewal.
The sculpture consists of three small-scale ceramic forms made from black clay. Each form adopts an embracing, protective posture, encircling a broom handle — an ordinary object linked to domestic labour, maintenance, and repetition.
My practice repeatedly returns to protective and enclosing forms as a way of thinking through embodied care and emotional regulation. In the context of Towards the Dark, the gesture of holding becomes a response to seasonal darkness and vulnerability. The sculptures can be read as quiet, ritual-like forms that seek warmth, stability, and continuity as light diminishes.
The contrast between the bodily embrace and the rigidity of the broom handle introduces a tension between intimacy and function, softness and endurance. Working with black clay situates the work within the material and temporal conditions of winter, emphasising shadow, density, and reduced visibility.