Embedded caves

Does a cave change when it is hidden? These ones have their own integral walls, their forms discovered only on closer inspection.

I wanted to bring the story from the inside to the outside, using the wall as a canvas for marks, paint and symbols. To let the cave itself stay hidden and private.

I’ve always been fascinated with caves, for their function and their metaphors. When I began making them, they allowed me to explore the idea and process of creativity itself. Where do ideas come from? How do they move from thought or inspiration into physical reality.

The caves are hand formed, pinched, beaten and then carved into their final shapes. The surfaces are layered up with slips, glazes and lustres, many have carved lines or marks painted on. They are intended to be explored with the hands and even ears.

Caves were our earliest homes, and the place we performed our magic, our rituals, buried our dead, and made our art. They also symbolise our connection to the earth, death and rebirth and the great womb. They are the well from which ideas spring and the place where remains gather.

Each cave is named after a fictional primal Goddess.