Episode 4 is about positioning this work within traditional practices and rooting it in grassroot, activist, community organising. Speaking to Les Monarcas de Barro (the butterflies of mud), this amazing organisation talks to me about immigration, South American pueblo ceramic traditions, and the disconnect between ideas of land and earth, and our Western understanding of ceramics.
So many of our studios and clay practices have been built around handbuilding 1, handbuilding 2, with a focus on skill devoid of context, spirituality or even general connection to each other. How many of us have entered a studio and worked without taking off our headphones, barely speaking to the others around us? I’m all for a bit of alone time, but this compelling episode talks about the importance of not working and living in a silo, to move beyond individualism and towards the collective. We also talk about the importance of getting clay and traditional making back into the hands of people who’ve been severed from their lands and histories, to make small steps towards bringing back a connection that has been taken from them.
This episode is about trying to make change wherever you can, and starting to view clay as not just handbuilding 1, handbuilding 2, but as a way of understanding ourselves, where we come from, and who we want to be.
Contributors:Vanessa Cabezas and Kevin Escobar, founders of Les Monracas de Barro https://www.facebook.com/LesMonarcasdeBarro/
Clay Commons was written and produced by Eva Masterman, editing supported by Travis Roush. This podcast was supported by Newcastle University, and the Northern Bridge AHRC Consortium. Artwork created by Kelly Jade
Audio credits:
- "Ambience, Children Playing, Distant, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
- "Ambience, Seaside Waves, Close, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
- Music in the background of this episode are clips from indigenous street performers in Mexico City and a street festival in Oaxaca City from my travels in 2022.
