Claudia Lau - Layers to the Surface

Presented at C Gallery

This body of work has been developed between Melbourne and Jingdezhen, the historic heart of porcelain. It seeks to explore the ceramic process expanded through a lens of poetic gesture through considered studio methodologies that flex between known and unexpected firing outcomes.

Through the reexamination of whiteness as a site of cultural and material transformation, the journey of ‘The White Road’ in Jingdezhen imprints both literal and metaphorical meaning. Acts of translation and linguistic nuances, such as 明白 (míngbai/ understanding) meaning ‘bright’ and ‘clear,’ hold the complexities of material and language, ceramic and spoken respectively. This diasporic road questions the relationships between East and West, tradition and innovation, exoticism and pilgrimage. The idea of investigating and placing these disparate ideas and actions becomes manipulated within the material practice. By coding ‘glazing’ as a deliberate act to control tonal and colour ratios, the firing process destigmatises its rigidity through as a technology without conscious choice.