five feet four inches forward:
a portrait of fannie lou hamer stoneware. 2024 “it seems like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I'm not backing off. ” - fannie lou hamer I’m a potter, and clearly this portrait is not a strict likeness. I’m thinking of it more as a conceptual brutalist peice, and there are four elements I’m using to portray Mrs. Hamer; scale, process, color, and symbol. Scale - this piece is five feet four inches high, inspired by her quote above. I find her words incredibly moving and poetic, and wanted her portrait to recognize every inch of her dedication. It’s constructed of 64 individual one inch high slabs, stacked with just enough space to let light shine through the edges. Process - Mrs. Hamer was a sharecropper. Hard, demanding work, and she did not have the resources to buy tools and tech that would have made it easier. I wanted the process of making to reflect that, so each layer is hand rolled, cut, and hollowed, leaving uniquely textured edges and scrapes, sharp corners and lilting warps. Color - she had beautiful, dark, dark skin, and I used a dark molasses colored clay to portray her. Her color shaped the way the world saw her, set opportunities and limits. In this portrait there’s a lovely variation in tone and color, based purely on the kiln position (electric, cone 5), and I’m really pleased with how the color represents that aspect of her being. Finally, symbol - there’s one layer, about a third of the way from the top, that’s fractured. Mrs. Hamer was a survivor of state and medical violence, and I wanted to make that aspect a bit of a focal point. She used her experience as part of her power, as a way to command attention, get people to listen and understand her message. A part of her, not an apology. |