sculpture BM-2022-3019.1

Period:Unknown Production date:2018
Materials:porcelain
Technique:
Subjects:reptile
Dimensions:Height: 15.20 centimetres Length: 172.70 centimetres

Description:
Ceramic sculpture of a snake. Made of glazed porcelain, gold, mother of pearl lustre, and cone 6 clay.
IMG


Comments:Myanmar artist, Soe Yu Nwe is a contemporary ceramicist, whose cross-cultural experiences have inspired her to reflect upon identity through artistic practices. She defines her works as ‘fluid, fragile and fragmented’, transfiguring emotions into material form by creating objects in parts, as with the python here. The python comments on the difficulty of being a woman in a strongly patriarchal society, with strength and fragility expressed through the durable, yet brittle, ceramic material and the alternating open and closed areas. The division of the serpent into pieces indicates the wounds caused by the rigid gender roles that constrain women in Myanmar. Serpents occupy a prominent place in Myanmar’s Buddhist practices and spiritual beliefs. The snake is the artist’s zodiac animal, an essential factor in Myanmar where astrology plays an important role in the personal and the political. In Buddhism, mythical serpents called nagas are viewed as protectors and devout worshippers of the Buddha. At some temples pythons live in alcoves with Buddha images, where they are fed and honoured. Creating a snake in a ceramic medium is therefore an expression of Myanmar identity.The python was made using Chinese porcelain during her residency at the famous ceramic centre, Jingdezhen in China, a comment on both the internationalism of contemporary art and the artist’s Chinese-Myanmar heritage. She considers the piece to be intrinsically both Burmese and Chinese.