Visitors exploring the mini rooms that reflect different periods of the artist’s life.
CERAMIC artist Hannah Bhatt experienced her journey of healing through creating sculptures for her solo exhibition.
Her exhibition titled “Making Room” showcased 20 ceramic sculptures and 16 paintings at Cry Room in Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya in Selangor.
It took the ceramicist about three months to put together the art pieces, using white stoneware, glaze and underglaze for the sculptures, and acrylic and oil pastels for the paintings.
Colourful pieces symbolise the innocence of Bhatt’s childhood. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
On the exhibition’s title, Bhatt, 32, who’s from Sabah said emotions were like objects taking up space in the mind.
“To accept these emotions, you have to make room for them.
“Some people find it unnecessary to discuss their emotions. But it isn’t healthy to keep all your feelings to yourself,” she said.
‘Thorns Beneath The Bloom’ reflects a mother’s unconditional sacrifices.
The exhibition featured four mini rooms, designed to resemble small garden sheds with roofing panels making up the walls.
Each exhibition room represented a stage of Bhatt’s life – childhood, adolescence, adulthood and lastly, motherhood.
In each room were pieces that symbolised emotions Bhatt felt when recalling parts of her life, like the melancholy of leaving behind parts of herself in order to pursue her ambitions.
Bhatt inside a mini room titled ‘The Softening’, which depicts her experience with motherhood.
Bhatt said her favourite piece was one that represented motherhood.
“Thorns Beneath the Bloom” is a vase-like sculpture with protruding faces at the base and thorny flowers in the middle.
With that piece, she said she wanted to convey a mother’s unconditional sacrifice and the subsequent outcomes that grew from it.
Pieces at an interactive corner for visitors.
Her two children also worked on all 16 paintings for “Making Room” and were credited on the artworks.
Bhatt also held weekend workshops for adults and children wanting to try ceramic sculpting.
“I want to educate more people on the process of ceramic sculpting, from start to finish,” she said.
The exhibition consists of four mini rooms showcasing pieces of different themes.
She explained that it would take two weeks for clay sculptures to be dry enough to be fired in the kiln.
She said the clay must be checked for any cracks before the firing, to ensure the durability of the sculptures.
In the ‘Room of Knowing’, pieces like ‘Facing Out’ and ‘The Things I Grew On’ symbolise trying to find one’s identity while holding onto the safety of home as a young adult.
As cracks made the sculpture prone to breaking, she said many of her cracked pieces were destroyed instead of being sent to the kiln.
“Ceramics require absolute patience and dedication for they take a long time to take shape and reach completion,” said Bhatt.
