A Long Road Home
In 2019, I left the UK to teach internationally and gain new perspectives; this exhibition is a visual narrative of that time away from home. It traces the hopes and dreams I had for myself, as well as the unexpected joys and grief I experienced along the way. Home is a concept that has evolved; now, more places feel like home, with people who care about me and places where I feel familiar. As I prepare to return to the UK in the coming weeks, A Long Road Home is also a retrospective reflection on this journey.
Six ceramic pieces were created as part of my Master's degree, which explores the impact of community on artist-teacher identity. I collected data through active participation in a local ceramics studio. When I view these six pieces, I not only see the illustrative glazes depicting my communities abroad, I also see the conversations in the studio with other ceramists; I see the advice I was given on pulling taller, discussions about handles and slip, the many times I failed and tried again, and the cracks in test pieces. It is a reflection not only on my individual experience but also the collective knowledge shared by the studio community I learned alongside.
“Behind Closed Doors” (2025)
Each door portrayed on this wheel-thrown vase is one I lived behind over the last eight years. Two before I moved abroad and two since. Each is a place I consider home. Symbols are illustrated across the surface that hold meaning for friends from each location: an Easter egg hunt during lockdown in a shared apartment block, a saw leaning on a wall recalling the time my Australian friends helped decorate my Christmas tree in Luton. This piece holds multiple meanings for multiple groups of people. Only I know what happened behind those doors where I felt safe and where I didn’t, the inclusion of places which hold negative memories is as important as the inclusion of the places I felt comfortable, happy and safe.
“Always Going Home” (2025)
A wheel-thrown plate that utilises sgraffito, a technique where layers of underglaze are carved away to reveal the raw clay beneath, exploring the evolving concept of home. When I fly, I no longer know whether I’m travelling to or from home. Both. It is both now. Home is a place filled with people who love me and places where I feel comfortable. It’s my mum’s kitchen table, and my balcony overlooking Downtown Dubai. It’s cooking for friends as they sit at my bar top in my Chicago apartment, and walking down the river. The act of carving through applied surface colour to reveal what lies beneath reflects how identity is created in layers of understanding.
“Loneliness/Community” (2025)
A footed, wheel-thrown bowl with two handles, painted with dense text in underglaze. While I have had many joyful experiences during my time living and teaching abroad, I also want to acknowledge the challenges that I have faced. This bowl holds space for discomfort—the loneliness, isolation, and sadness of being far from home, navigating life as a single person in a foreign country. It stands in quiet contrast to the celebratory narratives we often tell, offering space for complexity, difficulty, and truth.
“ORD” (2025)
Hand-painted in black underglaze on a wheel-thrown vase, this piece depicts my favourite parts of Chicago—the streets I cycled daily on my way to work or to meet friends, before the city shut down. Living in Chicago during the pandemic was profoundly different from life there before. Automatic writing wraps around the surface, mapping memories like gusts of wind down familiar streets. Around the top, a line of text honours the often-overlooked Indigenous peoples on whose land the city stands.
“DXB” (2025)
This wheel-thrown vase features 24k gold leaf layered over black underglaze, accentuating the skyline of Dubai against rolling sand dunes. Little golden camels wander mountainous terrain; wind towers peak behind dunes; mountaintop forts stand sentinel. In this piece, tradition and history intersect with the modern and the new. It is the only work in the series that does not include text.
“Foundily” (2025)
A wheel-thrown jug with a pulled handle, illustrated in black and white underglaze. The jug form honours those who have poured themselves into me over the last six years,the people who filled my cup and kept me going. My found family. My community of support. Those I couldn’t possibly thank enough are represented here.
The collaborative process was just as important as the visual outcome. I invited friends to appear on the jug, or, if they preferred not to be depicted, I represented them through symbolic objects, like a baseball or snorkel. Each portrait was hand-painted on a curved, textured surface, where corrections are nearly impossible to make. To achieve a consistent tone, three layers of underglaze had to be applied precisely on top of each other.
