Details
High-firing clay, margarite glaze
H. 17 x w. 11 x d. 10 cm
 
"The piece “Falling Inside” represents one of the things learned so far in the journey of life which is that the biggest of the struggles in someone’s life is often that fight with oneself to achieve self-love, self-acceptance, and self-worth.
Self-worth is often a missing piece in the mosaic of life, creating countless internal and coexisting struggles within ourselves in our search for self-value, and consequently a struggle in coexistence with others.
I tried to give shape to that struggle, representing a bent and misshapen empty self about to fall to the ground hopelessly.
Just like an empty bag would do.
Awareness of self-value gives a person the strength to sustain oneself in the wildest of storms and the day to day life.
Another lesson learnt along the way is that a person's value cannot coincide with their CV and professional achievements.
It has to do with something more intrinsic, belonging to each person's unique life. Something that cannot only be filtered by the way others see us."
 
 
About Gessica Carbone
"The urge is to shape feelings, emotions and impressions perceived, lived, or suffered. Clay is used as an organic and natural 3D representation of these concrete “emotional states” of the human being. Each one of the creatures contains a story within itself; a mysterious glance, a sudden happiness, a deep look from the eyes of the medium, to the soul of the observer."
 
Gessica Carbone is a ceramic artist based in London, she first started to hand-built small creatures representing feelings and emotions during the first lockdown for the Covid pandemic, and since then she has deepened the use of clay to explore her inner world and shared with others everyday experiences and beliefs around ourselves and the way of being in this world. She tries to represent the deep and complicated journey of the unconscious from the Wounds of our Inner Traumas to the Relief of Healing.
 
 
Artist Q&A
Where did your relationship with art begin?
G: My relationship with art started when I was only a child and tried to explore and construct using different mediums, such as shells, wood carving, drawing, and writing poems.

I then pursued different types of studies that took me away from art for a while, although I always wanted to explore the path of art. Whilst growing up, I found that I always had an urge to shape feelings and emotions into something more tangible utilising the few types of art mediums I knew back then.
 
When did you first work with clay?
G: I first started to hand-build small ceramic creatures representing feelings and emotions during the first lockdown of the Covid Pandemic, since then I have prioritised the use of clay to explore my inner world and share with others relatable creations linked to everyday experiences and beliefs around ourselves and our way of being in this world.

What are you thinking about when you start making each piece? 
G: In my work with clay, I try to represent the deep and complicated journey of the unconscious - from the wounds of our inner traumas to the relief of healing. The necessity is to shape feelings, emotions and impressions perceived, lived or suffered. Clay is used as an organic and natural 3D representation of these concrete “emotional states” of the human being. Each creature contains a story within themselves; a mysterious glance, a sudden happiness, a deep look from the eye of the medium, to the soul of the observer.
 
At times I make a series of similar pieces and positions, other times I feel the need to suspend a piece I am working on if I am beset with the urge to represent different feelings, struggles, or wishes. Part of my job is also influenced by what is happening in the rest of the world. Empathy for others and what they are going through is a big part of the process through clay, and represented in the final result.

Do you plan each piece in advance or do they develop intuitively?
G: Each lived experience or feeling creates a vivid and representational image in my mind. Sometimes there is an urgency of recreating that image in 3D to solidify the emotion and finish the project, whilst other times I sketch the ideas out and leave them to be reawakened later when they might resonate more with me and the process through which I am living.