The Subversive Stitch is a collection of ceramic vessels titled after Rozsika Parker’s seminal book examining embroidery as a historically gendered practice situated between art and craft.

The oversized vessels are marked with metal stitches that resemble repair, referencing juci, the ancient Chinese technique of mending ceramics with metal staples. Yet here, the stitches serve no restorative purpose. They become deliberate interventions—symbolic marks that disrupt the expectations of perfection and utility, transforming stitching into an act of authorship rather than repair.

The work also reflects on the historical marginalization of ceramics as “craft” rather than “high art,” a distinction deeply connected to gendered hierarchies. As a woman artist working in clay, I consciously inhabit and challenge this divide.

Richly coloured, varied glazes introduce a fluid, expressive presence that evokes femininity without treating it as decoration. In this vessel, colour and texture become central to the process. I mix my own glazes, often using oxides rather than stains, and apply them thickly with brushes. The unfired colours are deceptive; the kiln transforms them in ways that cannot be fully predicted.

This uncertainty is integral to the work—painting by instinct, trusting the chemistry, and allowing the fire to have the final word.