Paracas

By Madeleine Thornton-Smith

ARTIST STATEMENT

The history of mould-making is closely linked to the history of early photography: French philosopher Roland Barthes relates death masks of those recently lost popularised in the late 1800s to the advent of film photography during that period. Both act as an “index” of what we are trying to print - through clay, plaster or light – as with mould-making and analogue photography, indexicality depends on a physical relation between the object photographed/cast and the image/object finally created (Gunning, 2004, p. 40).

By constantly photographing, documenting and casting, Barthes argues we are trying to “cheat death” by creating keepsakes or lockets of past experiences we can carry with us - to not forget that moment that's immediately already passed. A memory of an object is made.

"I like to use ceramic plates as canvases to explore ideas. Each of these plates tells a story of a friend I’ve lost – through rupture, poor mental health or loss.

'Paracas' is a story about shells found in the desert beaches of Peru, and around the world. The shell with a barnacle growing off it a close friend gifted to me while I was doing a residency just before the pandemic. Our friendship experienced a rupture however I still treasure the memories of spending time with her in one of the most incredible landscapes I've ever encountered - a mountainous desert by the sea.

The conch shells are from my recent stay in the Basque Country in Spain and the smaller shells were found on beaches in the south of France during a residency in Vallauris this year. A small shell growing off a bigger shell makes me think of what friendship is: mutual support and solidarity, and the healing possible after fallout."

BIO

Madeleine Thornton-Smith is a painter and ceramic artist from Melbourne. Madeleine's practice examines the hierarchy that exists between fine art and craft in relation to class and gender, with a particular interest in subverting meaning through remediation. Employing a slow process of accumulation and repetition, she uses slip-casting to bring together commonplace studio material surfaces and textures with archetypal forms from fine art and ceramics - such as vessels, plinths, frames and canvases. This mimetic process raises questions about the status and value of ceramics, art and craft. She is also interested in exploring memory and nostalgia through casting.