Ceramic & Photography: A Poetic Dialogue Between Still Lifes

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Ceramic & Photography: a poetic dialogue between still lifes brings together the distinct yet harmonious visions of Hong Kong ceramic artist Ben Yau and French photographer Tiphaine Beausseron. The exhibition explores the timeless genre of the still life, transforming everyday objects into profound meditations on form, light, and existence. This collaboration is a fascinating study in contrast and complementarity, bridging the three-dimensional solidity of ceramics with the two-dimensional capture of light in photography.

Ben Yau’s ceramic still life series draws direct inspiration from the Spanish Golden Age master Juan Sanchez-Cotan’s Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber (1560-1627). Yau describes his work as “not merely a depiction of food, but a meditation on form, light, and existence through the stark, austere arrangement of everyday objects.” With a background rooted in both painting and ceramics—having graduated from Hong Kong Art School and obtained a B.A. in Ceramics from RMIT University—Yau’s practice is dedicated to exploring the possibilities “between ceramics and paintings, 3D and 2D.”

Tiphaine Beausseron approaches the still life through the lens of “poetic minimalism,” composing scenes of refined simplicity to reveal the “quiet poetry of the ordinary.” Her exhibited photographs are selected from the series Grazing the Feelings and Cherish the Earth, where she sought to capture the “rich textures and intrinsic poetry of each subject,” playing with light and contrast to unveil the “simple beauty of the earth and its treasures.” Drawing on two decades of experience as a journalist and author, Beausseron has transposed her expertise in storytelling into a photographic practice that is “resolutely humanist and contemplative,” focusing on the invisible bonds that nourish the human soul.