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Yohanna Yared

Mended with Gold (2023)

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, ‘golden joinery or seams’)


An ancient art of repairing broken pottery using gold or other fine lacquer, drawing attention to the mended areas rather than hiding them away. If anything, the ‘scars’ of these pieces make them more beautiful and resilient. From the broken clay body, comes something mended and unique. 

We can read this as a metaphor for our own experiences of scarring, healing, and Proud Flesh. In making this piece, I parted with some ceramic pieces I had made, breaking them apart to form something different, held together by the shining gold. This piece was born of reflections during my dissertation project – an inquiry into the literary portrayal of physical disfigurement within the late nineteenth century – which opened up new avenues to consider disability and aesthetics in an empowering light. Kintsugi is a metaphor for renewal, healing, and trusting the process: from something broken, comes something new...

 

materials used: clay, ceramic glaze, gold lacquer

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