Victoria Andrews

VIRTUAL TOUR

ARTIST CATALOGUE

Fragile Connections.

My recent body of work examines the fragility of the human body through a varied approach that integrates printmaking, sculpture, and video. The print works feature crushed, inked porcelain pressed onto plaster and gauze sheets, along with embossed fragments of broken porcelain. These materials emphasize the body’s susceptibility to fracture, drawing direct comparisons between the fragility of porcelain and the delicate constitution of the human form. A suspended sculptural installation, consisting of larger gauze and plaster sheets, explores themes of tension, stiffness, and pain, evoking the residual effects of injury and the visible traces left by medical interventions, such as the removal of casts. In a video performance, I document the act of dragging brittle porcelain up a staircase, symbolizing the personal trauma of my accident, which occurred on stairs. The fragile porcelain embodies the precariousness of the body, while the repetitive motion recalls the painful and slow process of recovery. Collectively, these works reflect on the body’s capacity for both vulnerability and resilience, exploring how physical and emotional scars persist as markers of its fragility.

Working with porcelain—a fragile, temperamental medium—parallels the process of healing physical and emotional trauma. The material requires careful handling, just as recovery necessitates patience. In pressing fired porcelain through a printing press, I metaphorically reenact the crushing of nerves, mimicking the pressure and pain experienced during my accident and recovery. By engaging with the fragility of porcelain, I emphasize the body’s delicate balance between trauma and healing, destruction and repair.