The potter and the clay

Sheherzade Alam speaks about pottery and the inspiration that fuels her passion

LAHORE:

Sheherezade Alam preserves her decades of dexterity with clay at The Studio 90 Collective in Lahore. This is where ceramists, hobby potters and occasionally children congregate, to learn from someone who is oft called Pakistan’s First Lady of Ceramics. A title well deserved, for the experience she’s amassed over years has made her a veritable master of the potter’s wheel.

Her latest work is a two-day exhibition at The Studio 90 Collective, titled Our Clay Legacy, opening on April 2. She has mentored artists Amjad Ali Daudpota, Afshan & Nosheen, Faiqa Lone, Ibtisam Saleem, Kalsoom Mehmood, Amna Shariff, Rabia Oneeb and Waseema Saleem, whose works will also be showcased at the exhibit. This is a continuation of Alam’s efforts to take ownership of, celebrate, reinterpret and revive our region’s rich clay heritage. Along with her newer work, glimpses of older vessels from her oeuvre will also be on display at the studio.



The other ceramists who form a part of Our Clay Legacy have created from the more utilitarian wind chimes, musical instruments and outdoor lightings to objects created for their sheer beauty. Before the exhibition, they could be seen glazing, firing and painting their wares, readying them for the showcase. Kalsoom Javed, one of the potters shared, “All my work is related to my land — Balochistan. It is inspired by the memories of my childhood — the hot, arid climate producing certain kinds of trees and the cracking of the land due to high temperatures — all of that has formed a part of my work.” Ibtisam Saleem, who was primarily a potter by hobby until she met Alam in 2011 was able to properly explore her passion for clay once she came to The Studio 90 Collective. “I want to reintroduce simple clay products in everyday life,” she says.



While people flock to Alam to learn about ceramics she feels clay is the real teacher. “I work with four elements, earth, fire, water, and air and realise that while you shape the clay, it shapes you,” she muses. Alam spent a number of years abroad and immersed herself in the cultures of countries as far and wide as Turkey, Scandinavia, Japan and China. She also worked with potters in England, Glasgow, Ankara and Toronto, before leaving everything behind to return to her family home in Lahore.

Here Alam met a fellow potter, the late Muhammad Nawaz with whom she found a similarity and connection in work. He was a Harappan potter and that is how Alam identifies herself, “I want to be a potter in the lineage of the Harappan potters because that is our heritage,” she says. Nawaz passed away two years ago but left Alam with a burning desire to preserve and showcase his work. “I approached various bodies that promote cultural activities in Lahore but they all turned me away. It seems people don’t care about pottery as an art form and find it insignificant.” Finally, officials at the Lahore Museum opened their doors and she was able to put up a show titled, Rediscovering Harappa- through the Five Elements. She feels a strong link with Harappan potters, “the reason why my work resembles theirs is because I work only on the wheel and that’s how I differentiate myself from other ceramists.”



She feels the wheel takes you on different voyages and allows you to become aware of your centre. The potter speaks of the alchemy of the medium, its connection to the earth and its healing qualities. The sense of rhythmic movement that becomes one with the person that molds the clay, therefore the process of creation is very important to Alam.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd,  2016.

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