Handmade earthenware fired, discarded offcuts of glazed porcelain wall tiles

60 x 129 x 129 cm

Burning Libraries is concerned with oppression through political censorship. While the burning of contemporary books is largely symbolic, the burning of libraries containing original manuscripts is often an act of senseless, irreversible destruction. This work consists of hand built, oxidation fired, earthenware pieces resembling letters, shards and offcuts of ceramic tablets with or without text.

Oppressive rulers and iconoclasts have ritualistically carried out the burning of books and of libraries   containing works by those with a different political opinion. There is evidence of violence in this installation, but also a poetic sense of hope. The burnt remnants are not ash from burnt books but ceramic, which needs fire.