QUOTATION # 8

“At the time I made the Broken Pot series, I was thinking about the idea of breaking not as an end but as a beginning.

When a pot breaks, as a ceramicist, you can grind the pieces into clay for a fresh substance which becomes stronger as a result.

When I made those pots, Ghana’s economy was completely in tatters.

In retrospect, I regard my process as an exhortation; that things have to break in order to start reshaping”

                                                                                         EL ANATSUI

MANGBETU POT: John Ray, terracotta, 1999. Private collection – purchased from the artist.

[The original pot was inadvertently broken into several pieces by a house cleaner.

The pieces were retained by the owners. The original artist had passed on- before the pot was broken.

If you are the original owner, what will be your course of action?]

UNTITLED (Family Pot series): Kofi Asante, terracotta and metal, 1998, Private collection- purchased from the Artists’ Alliance Gallery.

 

4 thoughts on “QUOTATION # 8”

  1. In Japan when a pot breaks they don’t throw it away they patch the pieces back with gold , meaning that one must emerge daily as a new and better being .

  2. 😊😊
    Glue it back together!

    The family pot series looks wonderful – wouldn’t want to buy it though as I have a house cleaner.

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