Earth Mirrors

Earth Mirrors
2025 - 2026
Unfired burnished London clay, some versions with graphite or carbon pigment burnished into the surface

It seems a paradox, to see yourself in dirt. But burnishing is repetitive touch, and it is only through that touch that the reflection becomes possible. Touch makes something visible.

I work with clay sourced from sites across London, cast into discs and semi-spheres. Once leather hard, I burnish the surface by hand until the platelets align and it becomes reflective.

While burnishing, I found myself thinking that stone can hold a reflection, and that smoothing the clay might be returning it to something closer to what it was before it broke into particles. A little nearer to stone again. I add pigments to see what they reflect: graphite, and carbon that I make myself. The discs become like scrying vessels made from ancient ground.