Philippi Desa

Her work integrates abstract geometric structures with open-ended and improvised elements.

She creates hybrid objects by imagining archaeological fragments as architectural models or by making minimalist grids morph into organic structures and vice versa. Many of her sculptures don’t have a ‘right way up’ and can be positioned in different ways.

A sense of mobility – of memories, desires, fears and hopes – is important to understanding my work. Working with clay allows her to combine simple geometric forms and clearly differentiated surfaces, smooth or highly textured with the imprints of natural materials, found objects, or moulded by touch. Surfaces are further defined and accentuated with contrasting slips and glazes. Often her work responds to a particular location, or to a place imagined in literature or music. Questions about how we inhabit, remember and experience architectural spaces, about shelter and home, and about the uncanny and unhomely, are central to her work.