Spillages (2022-2023) is a reinterpretation of indigenous Iron Age ceramics from the Iranian plateau, which was characterized by beak-spouted earthenware vessels that are thought to have been used either for ceremonial purposes, burials, or to carry wine. The distinctive curvature of the vessels resembles the necks of birds, and traditionally each pot only had one beak since the elongated, protruding form results in a more fragile pot.
The stoneware vessels in Spillages experiment with form and functionality while testing physical limitations. With each beak that is added, the liquid inside the vessel has an additional channel, allowing the vessel to free its contents in a controlled manner without spilling over from the top. However, each beak that is added also means that less water can be contained in the vessel, and the heavy, elongated beaks test the physical integrity of the clay, increase its vulnerability, and leave the vessel at greater risk of breakage.
This series was created in the wake of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement after the brutal state murder of Mahsa Jina Amini in Iran and the ensuing state repression, murders, kidnapping, and torturevof civilian protesters. Within the larger context of carceral regimes, police brutality, neocolonial and neo-imperial violence, and ecological collapse, these vessels use the visual language of Persianate collective memory to ask: how much force can the human and collective body withstand before spillage turns to breakage?
The gamaj is a traditional Gilaki earthenware cooking pot which continues to be an essential part of food culture in the northern Caspian Sea region of Gilan, my ancestral land. The reinterpretation explores the symbolic disruption of, and attempted reconnection to, the chain of knowledge about both ancestral Iran and my Gilaki heritage.
Handbuilt pot, black clay, white slip, glaze, 2022