Alana Wilson
Alana Wilson — Land Land Island Vessel, 2025
These works from Alana express a sense of iterative sequencing or reassemblage through ceramic, etching, and bronze. They take an antagonistic view to a medium and archetype so integral to her practice - to represent something whole or complete as fragile, repaired, reassembled.
The works allude to the fragile and fragmented qualities of the medium. Some pieces have been broken intentionally, yet some broken by accident have undergone kintsugi repair - highlighting the beauty to be found in their imperfections and flaws. In addition, these ceramic works subvert the archetype of the vessel to hold, carry or enclose something inside of it. Functionality is removed and one must consider its history and future, based on its scars and seams. Both the bronze and etching work follow a natural, fibonacci-esque spiral to express iteration, momentum and plurality - a philosophy innately present in the studio making process, yet often not felt in final, singular works.
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Alana Wilson works primarily in ceramic, her studio practice also encompasses sculpture, photography, and printmaking. Forming a visual and conceptual lineage across mediums, the Australian-born, New Zealand-raised artist questions the relationship between humans and their environments, and the scale at which we exist in nature. Drawing on natural, biographical, art historical, and anthropological sources, Wilson’s work is visceral, intimate, and tactile. Her practice combines philosophical enquiry with material investigation, following instinct and experimentation. Firing to 1260ºC allows the metamorphosis of surface degradation to be captured, preserving the transformations that occur in the kiln's atmosphere. Wilson’s oeuvre alludes to the interconnectedness of all life, from the intimate to the universal.
Material: Terracotta with reactive stoneware glazes, copper and cobalt oxides, sand, shell impressions
Dimensions: approx. 9 x 5 x 5cm