As a visual, conceptual, and installation artist, I work with non-vitrified porcelain to explore the themes of time, identity, and the societal pressures within cultural traditions. For the Interim Exhibition, I produced 691 wheel-thrown vessels – one for each monthly cycle from my birth to May 2025 – challenging the convention of marking time in years.

The vessels arranged in a spiral formation, beginning with the smallest at the centre and progressing outward to the largest, reflecting the cyclical and accumulative nature of life. Their raw, unfired state highlights the fragility and temporality of the material, as well as forming the repetitive shapes and rhythms found in both nature and the human experience.

My practice questions the influence of Western cultural, societal, and political signifiers on women’s lives. This installation exposes the societal systems of control and uniformity, juxtaposing a proposed environment devoid of imposed structure – one that repositions individuals not according to social roles, but as beings.

The title “Cyclical” also alludes to the impermanence of materials and moments. This resonates with Cornelia Parker’s “Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View” (1991) (Blazwick, 2013), in which the artist enlisted the British Army to detonate a garden shed, gathering and suspending the debris mid-air to preserve a moment of transformation, suggesting an alternate narrative.

The work of Edmund de Waal (Waal, 2022) informs my practice. Although his use of glazed porcelain differs materially, his focus on the spatial arrangement and repetition of vessels evokes a sense of calm and reverence, qualities I aspire to echo through my work.

Through these influences and material choices, the final work delves into time and identity in greater detail. The installation invites viewers to reflect on how we relate to traditions, to others, and ourselves.