Sticks and Stones

2021 / 22

Sticks and stones is an intimate response to a loved one’s experience with an eating disorder - the fragile limbs of branches and bones denoting both the bodily and psychological challenges of such an illness. Symbols of trees have traced through Clutterbuck’s practice as cross-cultural references to longevity and endurance, and here the bare branches appear in a state of survival. These hand-built porcelain branches are modelled from small, bare sticks collected from the ground by Clutterbuck’s son. The branches point earthwards to a bed of salt and slip cast bones, reaching for a state of preservation or stillness. The elemental matters of salt, bone and clay speaks to a body in limbo – something held between states of growth and decay.

— Bernadette Klavins, 2022 (Excerpt from NEOTERIC Catalogue)
Part of NEOTERIC Exhibiton

Photography, Sam Roberts