Elif Uras

Laissez Faire, 2007, underglaze paint on ceramic, 20 x 29 cm

Snow, 2007, underglaze paint on ceramic, 20 x 29 cm

Making Waves, 2007, underglaze paint on ceramic, 20 x 29 cm

I have always related my ceramic works to painting. I was producing “narrative” paintings that brought together Eastern and Western influences and aesthetics, resembling large, polished miniatures. The tensions and contradictions between East and West, and between tradition and modernity, have naturally remained central to my work. I also encountered reflections of cultural hybridisation in İznik. The ceramic tradition of İznik, which throughout history was influenced by China, Islamic art, and the West, was later itself imitated in the West.

In İznik, I created patterns and images using detailed compositions and vivid, glossy colours, technically and materially similar to those in my paintings on canvas. I began by using traditional ceramic forms as three-dimensional surfaces, before developing more distinctive forms that evoke and represent the female body. My aim is to begin with tradition and arrive at a more contemporary and personal visual language.

Objects associated with the home and with women, such as vases and plates, are generally regarded as decorative. For a long time, painting was defined as a higher form of art, while ceramics was classified as a craft or decorative art. My aim is to move beyond such prejudices and to question the cultural distinctions between art and design, and between tradition and modernity.