Priya’s “Inner Landscapes”

This particular exhibition presents work she created in ceramic residences in Jingdezhen, China and in Shikaragi, Japan. ‘Inner landscapes’, she explains, refers to the fact that the works carry the flavour, atmosphere and energies of the land and place she created them in. “In Japan, she says, “I very much felt the presence of the land and everything being animated by life forces,” and this is evident in works like Earth Speak, which, in its dark swirling's, evokes the density, the ‘beginning of the energy of the earth.

Priya doesn’t plan her work beforehand. “I have no idea what I am going to make. I go blindfolded into these cultures so I am thrown into this dark space which I really have to feel out.”

One piece which exemplifies her ability to absorb the landscape and culture in this non-mental way is Homage to Aso San, a richly textured, multi-glazed ceramic piece, which, at first, she couldn’t make sense of. “But towards the end of my residency I travelled to the site of the active volcano named Aso San and at its base are these grasslands and wetlands where I found a landscape very similar to the work. So I felt as if the land was feeding me images and information”.

Priya felt China was different. “There is a sweetness in the people, there is a perfection in their work, but what I found striking was the sense of an ancient history behind everything, which I did not immediately perceive in Japan.” Priya was drawn to the Chinese ink paintings which are done very spontaneously. “Following my experience in Japan, part of me became bold, gender issues dropped away and then the real thing can come out.” This new freedom of expression and spontaneity is reflected in larger pieces of glazed tile painting like Dragon Play, which seems to catch the whisper of a moment, and Axonal Chatter, where the dense interweaving's evoke the mycelial networks of trees ‘chattering’ with each other.

The exhibition also has some fine glazed porcelain plates, minimally inscribed using cobalt oxide. When they are held to the light, they are translucent, reflecting the myriad shades of blue. They are like a metaphor for Priya’s work which reflects, refracts, celebrates, the abundance of the natural world while evoking the ‘innerness’ which silently upholds it.

A short video of the exhibition can be seen at https://youtu.be/jfdz78Fpzdc