Stavanger, Norway
Children are the great innocents of war, and to serve all kinds of purposes we are every day bombarded with images of their suffering. I am not sure how much empathy versus numbness is created in that way, but I know that much tender humanity is achieved through gestures like Eva C Hoven’s ongoing project of sculpting small heads in porcelain. Each is formed intuitively, then glazed and fired using an array of techniques, including raku and anagama. The optimistically named “Håp (Hope)” appears to be an infant, his head scaly or fuzzed, his eyes shadowed, nose bulbous and mouth red. His skin is dark in places, light in others. Like any porcelain object subjected to experimental firing and glazing, it was unclear how “Håp” would emerge from the kiln. Would he be stronger, would he be scarred, would he be beautiful? Would he even survive? In her choice of material and process, applied to such a sensitive and crucial subject, Hoven achieves a deeply moving metaphor.
—Lori Waxman, March 17, 1:40 PM