Extermination Tents: The maker’s perspective on displaying new ceramics

In designing the installation Extermination Tents for the James Hockey Gallery, UCA Farnham, physical aspects of display were a significant concern and integral to the design process. Access and proximity, height, light, shade and movement enhanced and altered how this work was perceived. The visual language of modernist sculpture and installation art influenced the style and layout. The collection of skin-like objects were inspired by fumigation tents for the treatment of wood boring insects in Durban, South Africa. The objects addressed permanence and transience in relation to migration and identity construction in South Africa. For this essay, the work was analysed as an example of an installation strategy for a transnational African artist expressing personal narratives using clay.