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09·11 Black Ceramics

Black Ceramics are pinhole cameras that contain memory of the river and the print of the water. Each camera has been built kneading the clay from along the same riverbed they will photograph. These sediments are the containers of the geological memory of this river.

The cameras are made to be thrown into the water, and floating or sinking, photograph the image the river flow for several minutes. This image remains printed on the inside ceramic’ surface, which is covered by a photosensitive emulsion. In order to discover this image the ceramic has to be broken.

“During this process, I have inhabited caves to remain close to the riverbanks, next to its source and the water. It is in this process where the true work has revealed, and once shared it has been enriched enormously”.

Alchemy, game and ancient technologies in human hands that contain the water image in a vessel formed with the river’s clay. In order to contemplate the image for a moment the ceramic has to be broken, just before the image disappears and follows the flow of water.

 

From these experiences born the series:

“Piedra Negra”, are artefacts built in the riverside with the shape of the boulders eroded by the river. The transformation and creation process was completed by means of primitive processes from the clay extraction from a pothole, to the cooking in an oven holed in a cave’s floor.

Apnea, are submarine cameras that due to their density they sink to the bottom of the river. They suspense the breathe, and hold the external air to capture the interior image of the river.

Alacris, from the latin “Alegria” for joy and lightness. They are floating cameras that capture the image of the river flow while dragged by the river stream.

Homo, are the cameras that capture the human’s shadow. The glazes of these ceramics are elaborated with human bones and they photograph our footprints and presence.

Clayhenge are artefacts that capture the night sky. They contain the eldest photograph of the celestial sphere. Acting as small calendars, they mark the position of the stars in a concrete time and place through perforated holes on its surface. They generate an instant sky photograph that can only be projected in the interior of the piece.

Black Ceramic. Process documentation. Alacris series on the wheel. Bristol 2011.
Black Ceramic. Process documentation. Alacris series on the wheel. Bristol 2011.