Randa Maddah Syrian, b. 1983
4 3/8 x 4 3/8 x 9 1/2 in
Literature
This series of sculptures explores the relationship between the body and the earth. Clay is not simply a material for shaping forms, but an extension of the earth from which life emerges and to which it returns. Through shaping and firing, the material undergoes a transformation in which its fragility becomes part of its ability to endure, carrying traces of what it once was and the possibilities of what it might become. These bodies exist in a constant state of becoming, where the boundaries between human, animal, and plant, between what is alive and what appears still, begin to dissolve. Here, death is not the opposite of life, but part of its ongoing transformation, with every ending holding the possibility of a new beginning. This series reimagines the relationships between different forms of life, seeing the body not as a separate, self-contained entity, but as something shaped through its connections with others. It reflects on the continuity of existence beyond individual forms and on the ability of matter to hold the memory of what has passed, where what remains is not simply a trace of absence, but the possibility of another life.