domestic fragilities

More often than not, we seek that our homes have permanent fixes - in the furniture we build, in the fixtures we install or even in the finishings we invest in. Our domestic landscape in large parts comes to be defined by the mantra of durability. It might however be misleading to think of homes as places that accommodate mere permanence. Infact, they are the spaces that hold the very transitory and inevitably deteriorating condition of life. We create the myth of permanence around us only to hold the fragile. It is the fragile wares in which we mirror our state of being. Our investigations on life with objects extends into exploring this very aspect of domestic fragilities which brings us to consider objects with care, attentiveness and sensitivity while they continue to silently serve their function with utmost artfulness.

The notion of ‘domestic fragilities’ is specially relevant at the cusp of coming out of a pandemic. The present times have resulted in increased attention to our bodies and considered contact with the world around us. Ceramic is one material that expresses the precarity of this lived phenomenon more intimately than any other. Historically, baked clay and earthenware allowed humanity to store grains preparing them towards eventualities of droughts and floods. Across many cultures, earthen vessels are symbolically instituted and broken in order to mark life and death. Ceramics have remained principal objects of exchange that record lives and landscapes of their times. As objects that may be broken, damaged or destroyed more easily than others, engaging with fragile wares like ceramics within our domestic spaces quietly inculcate within us values of sensitivity, attention and care.

In quietly sitting and serving our everyday needs, ceramic wares allow us to reflect on our delicately transforming selves. They sit in different corners of our homes - on tables, in chests, our bedsides, showcases, kitchen racks - reminding us to approach things with softness. Different cycles of time are embedded in their usage. They may be used to preserve and protect perishables over long months, hold flowers or fragrances for weeks or insulate us to the heat of the moment while sipping our morning tea. Ceramic wares may not be timeless, rather they respond to time in different ways. In being brittle, ceramics demonstrate the unique quality of holding toughness and weakness together in its materiality. The subconscious consideration of these contrasting aspects is what makes ceramics artful. It is in the realisation of such domestic fragilities that we become more human.

artists

Eeshaan-Kashyap

Eeshaan Kashyap

New Delhi, India

Mansie Shah

Mumbai, India
Veena Chandran

Veena Chandran

Pune, India
Rahul Kumar

Rahul Kumar

New Delhi, India

Priya Sundaravalli

Priya Sundaravalli

Auroville, India
Falguni Bhatt

Falguni Bhatt

Kolkata, India
Shreya Alok Gupta

Shreya Alok Gupta

Himachal Pradesh, India
Élodie Alexandre

Élodie Alexandre

Himachal Pradesh, India

Indrani Singh Cassime

Indrani Singh Cassime

Auroville, India
Nandini Chandavarkar

Nandini Chandavarkar

New Delhi, India
Adil Writer

Adil Writer

Auroville, India
Jigisha Patel

Jigisha Patel

Mumbai, India

Reyaz Badaruddin

Reyaz Badaruddin

Himachal Pradesh, India