Barbara KANDIYOTI

Barbara Kandiyoti is a Belgian contemporary ceramist.

I've always been curious and passionate about creation, and I experimented with different artistic media (photography, fashion design, sewing, decoration, etc.) before finding my true vocation in working with clay.

It was with the artist and professor Eloise Bonehill that I gradually developed my interest in sculpture, with nature, and especially mushrooms, as my main source of inspiration.

The evidence of the creative process is as much a technical, aesthetic and spiritual discovery. Letting the material speak through my hands. Understanding the earth. Accepting cracks, creaks and tensions. Developing technical mastery while letting go of what can't be controlled. Mixing earth and materials (with wood) is as much an evolution in my work as it is a natural part of the medium. Just as nature is marvelously imperfect through a wilted flower, a cracked trunk, a broken branch, an overturned mushroom. In the same way, I rediscover this reality through my hands, and I accept that I may not have the perfect curve in a fall, or a crack created during drying. This flaw makes the piece interesting and, above all, alive.

This path I've been on for a few years now is much more than an apprenticeship in ceramics. I'm constantly comparing my work with learning about myself as an artist and as a human being.

Beyond my artistic work, it's a journey towards myself and towards the world.

My interest in mushrooms is multi-faceted, and is also linked to my contemporary curiosity about the virtues of mushrooms for mental and physical health and, above all, their regenerative capacities. Mushrooms are as fascinating for their natural beauty as they are for their physiological capacities.

Barbara Kandiyoti