Published: March 2023 (3 years ago) in issue Nº 404
Keywords: Exhibitions, Centre d’Art and Pottery
Within Without – A Pottery Exhibition
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‘Sharing this series is my way of taking a pause and evaluating my own journey, allowing myself to touch upon the core of my experience. In this collection of my latest work, several forms have emerged that reflect the serene atmosphere that surrounds my studio. I draw from nature; its simplicity, its spontaneity, as well as all its complexities. By utilising a variety of techniques, adapting them, and engaging with constant experimentation when creating clay compositions, kilns, and firing methods, I strive to remain on a constant path of new discoveries and experiences. Seed pods hold an entire universe within - the entire process of life, diverse yet contained. The imprints of these pods play a large role in my work. The intricate struggles of every life form illustrated by nature in these simple pods inspire me ceaselessly. This collection also delves into the idea of nihility - containers that hold nothingness, the space within.
My travel adventures over the past decade are chronicled through these large jars and platters. The painter in me, who has been hidden for a while, emerges having traversed the hinterlands of rural Indian life and adorns many of the forms in this series. In these lands, women create mesmerising paintings, sizeable hand-beaten vessels and platters with wonderful spontaneous flourishes. Repetition and pattern, explored via texture and technique, pay tribute to the way in which the work of these women transforms the Mundane into the Sacred, defiant against the perfect, disciplined forms moulded by their male potter counterparts.’
Rakhee on her inspiration and process, exhibition brochure
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Rakhee’s recent pottery exhibition at the Centre d’Art in Citadines showcased a collection of many pieces, all created at her studio in Auroville during the last year. Given the size and number of the pieces and how much labour goes into the many steps of creating pottery, this is a prolific feat.
The potter quotes Lao Tzu as saying: ‘We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends. We turn clay to make a vessel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends. We pierce doors and windows to make a house, and it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends. Therefore, just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognise the usefulness of what is not.’
Some of the big pots were used as vessels for Ikebana flower arrangements made by Valeria and Monica. Perhaps, as Loa Tzu would say, to take advantage of ‘the space where there is nothing’, inhabiting it with the life of flowers and leaves. This meticulously executed Japanese art perfectly complemented the pottery pieces and the spirit of the collection.
I walked through the exhibition with a friend who is a master potter herself, and she became my spontaneous guide. She wove each piece together with a story of appreciation, bringing to life in front of us one piece at the time, recognising the technique, skill and patience that was put into the art.
I learnt about the challenges of making such big pieces, that firing them in kilns is a laborious task, requiring great patience, endurance and physical effort.
Rakhee works with multiple firing methods, including the Japanese Anagama kiln. This kiln uses firewood and requires constant stoking and wood supply for several days at a time.
This method is unique because the flames are in direct contact with the clay, so the placement of the clay within the kiln is key, because the direction of the flames and how the pieces are set up against each other is what creates the patterns, ‘painting the pieces with fire’.
A series of plates hanging on the walls may all look very similar from afar, but as one approaches them, each one slowly reveals its unique character, imbued by the glazing. There are great variations in colour, texture, and thickness, ranging from smooth and glossy to rough and sharp.
My guide helped me appreciate the timelessness of the art: because the inspiration comes from nature and seeds in their raw form, the pieces will always remain relevant. Pottery being an art form that survives for thousands of years, some say that potters have the responsibility of creating meaningful art. These pieces, she says, are such an intricate weave of nature and indigenous art that they become timeless because they speak the language of seeds, of how one grain encapsulates the potential of the tree, of blossoming into something it was meant to be and yet never imagined it could become.