Martijn Verzijl (b. 1999), NL
I make ceramic story carriers. They reveal and house childhood concerns, desires and closures of the past. The interest in approaching vases as story carriers comes from an interest in how the ancient Greeks and Romans approached this as a way of recording time and passing on events.
Beyond the use of contemporary symbolism, text also plays a major role. Texts printed with letter stamps indirectly speak to the object's process. How it has been manually crafted and stamped until it is forever stuck in the material.
The poems and texts, often about an intimate feeling about loss, death or a longing for it, bring an extra dimension to the work. Repeatedly with a man or son as the protagonist because that is what I am in my essence. These mediums lean powerfully on themselves, but are enhanced a few times by figurative and mystical references.