Questioning Identity

… within every structure, fabricated or inherited, there is a habituated and formulaic tendency that causes stagnation and stifles individual and collective creativity.

Everyone has something to identify themselves by, some more than others. Within the field of ceramics, identity exists in many degrees and formats—some use it as a means to associate themselves, while others utilize it as a divisive strategy. Regardless of one’s agenda, inevitably we all fall into some sort of format that, if nothing else, others use to identify us. There are countless ways in which these categories are formed and determined, whether it be one’s conscious intention to partake or not, some find themselves at times questioning what exactly that means. Even those claiming no identity have agreed to be a part of something (i.e. because nothing is in fact something). We continue to see this more frequently not only within the field but as a culture, extending beyond racial identities, geographical origins and gender pronouns. While these new modes of labeling continue to evolve, we find that even within our myopic and reactionary field there continues to be growth and change.

In Kaunas, Lithuania, there is a history of symposia rooted in bone china and within the core group of organizers are individuals are looking for answers to today’s questions of contemporality, material yet his desire to continue the legacy of bone china, with or without the appropriate support and acknowledgement from his institution, has not wavered. His most recent efforts have included the addition of two artists recruited to help determine the direction and agenda for future symposia—Maris Grosbahs, artist/lecturer/organizer of ROJALAB in Latvia and Ieva Bertašiute-Grosbaha, artist/PhD candidate in Vilnius and co-founder of ROJALAB.