Representing a new beginning in the Anka’s journey of transformation, this work stands apart from the earlier pieces in the series with its light-coloured surface and wings rising in layers. The cracks and surface marks on the body carry the idea that the past is not erased but lives on in the memory of the reborn being. The upward-reaching neck and the wings that open and multiply strengthen the feeling of lightness, liberation and ascent that follows rebirth. Anka V symbolises a life that begins again while carrying the traces of the past.
Taking the rebirth narrative of the mythological Anka (phoenix) as its starting point, the Anka Series explores the traces of transformation and memory through ceramic form. In the series the Anka moves away from its traditional depictions and becomes pared down; body, wing, neck and tail at times merge into a single fluid form, at times break apart and multiply, opening out into space.
Each sculpture is like a different state of the same being. The reds of fire, dark metallic surfaces and earthy browns represent the different thresholds between disappearance and renewed existence. The cracks, colour transitions and firing marks left on the ceramic surface are not hidden; instead they become part of the form as the memory of transformation.
In this series, therefore, rebirth does not mean the complete erasure of the past. With each transformation the Anka carries traces of its previous existence. It breaks, changes, takes shape again and rises.
Rather than a fresh start, the Anka Series is the story of becoming another existence while carrying the traces of the past.