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Ceramics & Glass (MA)

Fan Ji

Born in 1997, Fan Ji completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in 2022. She chose to be a creative practitioner in the field of ceramic art because of her passion in making as well as the idea of combining contemporary issues with traditional techniques.


As both a craftswoman and a contemporary artist, Fan’s practice looks at space, unperceived human feelings and microhistory, often in relation to questions about interactions and manipulations. Her practice also touches upon themes of power, hierarchy, materiality and nature, which she uses to discuss the relationships of human and the environment we inhabit.


Fan’s practice is studio based and she works for exhibitions and commissions. she has ambitions to work in larger scale through residencies and to expend her research to communities and other public spheres.


Instagram: @jifannn_

Website: ji-fan.art

Sentimental representations of natural phenomena is a central topic in my research and ceramic forms. They not only extract on and represent aspects of an unseen nature, but also explore visual possibilities of a mutated human world and its regeneration. My obsessiveness toward nature are driven from Object Orientated Ontology, which rejects the privileging of human existence over the existence of nonhuman objects and makes distinct claims about the nature and equality of object relations. By incorporating different materials into one integrated object, my practice echoes this equality as they have been employed for the creative process no matter where they come from – nature or an industrial factory.


In the recent body of work, I fired clay together with metal mesh as a metaphor for the interaction between nature and the built environment. The clay when unfired has plasticity and natural movement. I use these material qualities to emanate natural lifecycles; the clay performing somewhere between my control and its autonomy. The metal part in my work erodes during the firing process affecting the formation of clay in both visual and chemical ways. I aim to create a surprising material symbiosis that portrays an apocalyptic turn in human-nature relationships under the Anthropocene, in response to the interconnectedness of life and all living things.

Earth Nidus 1/2glazed earthenware, aluminium mesh, flocks
Earth Nidus 3stoneware, aluminium mesh, flocks, plastic beads
Earth Nidus 1 (details)
Earth Nidus 4 (collection)glazed stoneware, stainless steel mesh, flocks, 10*10*10cm each

Medium:

glazed earthenware, stoneware, aluminium mesh, stainless steel mesh, flocks, plastic beads

Size:

20*18*23cm each/ 10*10*10cm each
Touchable Scenes seriesstained porcelain, 27*38cm, wall pieces
Lichen Vase (interior)
Lichen Vase1stained earthenware, glaze, 27*40cm
Lichen Vase 2stained earthenware, glaze, 35*44cm

Medium:

stained porcelain, earthenware, glaze
Ruins (details)glazed earthenware, aluminium mesh, dimension variable
Ruins 1glazed earthenware, aluminium mesh
Ruins 2glazed earthenware, aluminium mesh, 27*40*25cm

Medium:

glazed earthenware, aluminium mesh
Success by Lichens 118*19cm
Success by Lichens 2/345*40cm(left), 23*25cm(right)
The Forgotten18*19cm (wall piece)

This selection of objects is the outcome of a research project I did when I was doing a residency in Jingdezhen, China during my one-year leave of absence.

Medium:

stained stoneware, glaze