
Jo Roets South African, b. 1979
This piece delves into the intricate layers of the human spirit, symbolically mirroring the layers found in geological stratigraphy. It explores the complex abstraction and multifaceted warping nature of being.
As individuals our perspectives are etched by the scars of past traumas and textured by moments of joy and love. Lived experiences are embossed as memories and the future embellished with dreams.
These layers of existence, a continuum of emotions and thoughts. Past, present, and future coalesce, revealing the profound interconnectedness of our existence and the human experience.
Technical Description
A meditative quality exists in the repetitive nature of the process. Using unusual sculpting tools such as toothpicks and needles, the damp surface of the paper thin clay is rhythmically pricked and scored with indents, holes and incisions. The clay is manipulated and pushed to its breaking point, encouraging it to warp in the process.
The work is made intuitively by using the malleability of the clay and the process as a guide. In this way, shape and form are observed and possibilities are kept open for new compositions and connections to be discovered within the work.