Conditional Archaeology

New Ceramic works by Alanah Wilson

with florals by Phil Hyunh 

Mr Kitly 

November 2015

Wilson lives and works in Sydney and this is her first foray south since graduating from ceramics at the National Art School. This exhibition draws on Mycenaren vessels and Chinese ritual bronzes  as inspiration for her finely-fluted, ancient forms and metal-mimicking thin walls. Wilson's subtle colour range is achieved through layers of colours washes with oxides, slips and glazes.

The exhibition included a collaboration with Phil Hyunh who provided the floral elements.

In her catalogue Wilson writes of flowers serving as ..." 'memento vivere' - a reminder to live - and aim to highlight the importance of the physicality and reality of the present moment whilst acting as an indication of the measurable time and natural decay."

Hyunh's vibrantly-coloured and freshly-cut flowers precariously emerge from Wilson's ancient vessels. I am reminded of tenacity of plants that manage to grow from the smallest crack or fissue in the hardest of built environments. Conditional Archaeology reminds us where there is ruin there is always life as a continuum.