Description

A. Farm and Goethe Institut Ho Chi Minh City are excited to present While the soil slumbers — a showcase by our season 5 artist-in-residence Linh San, as a way to conclude her three months with us.

“When I first began working with ceramics, I thought the two deciding elements of the material–clay and kiln–could not be separated from my body of work. My approach to the material has changed after three years, which resulted in the expansion of my ceramic-making process. The word "and" in "clay and kiln" suggests that firing is a required step for clay to transform into ceramic. I am now thinking about materials according to a different ph(r)ase: raw clay and post-fired things. That implies when raw clay becomes the material element that captures my attention, firing for me now is just a method of making, an option.

I learned from craftsmen that to work with ceramics, I have to 'be in touch with the kiln'. When I submitted my residency proposal, I was certain that the place I would be living in would not be ideal for producing pottery. Leaving my studio in Hanoi, travelling on field trips around Southern Vietnam where there are or were pottery villages, I questioned and challenged my own approaches to ceramics and materials. In so doing, I tried to be able to work anywhere, not necessarily tied to a studio space or a kiln. While the soil slumbers is formed through trips, a complex of new and old memories in different lands, a subtle warmth that lingers after miles.” – Linh San.

Source: A. Farm.