VESSEL - MAY SPACE Online (Sydney) - June 2021

Araceli’s Jennie piece included in MAY SPACE Online’s VESSEL exhibition. As one of the oldest and most ubiquitous mediums, VESSEL brings together a group of Australian artists to examine the role of contemporary ceramics in our society. Historically used as a means to contain, ceramics were items which would hold special objects — grains, spices, wine, rice, earth or ashes. Although their form and function has changed and expanded over time, ceramics have and continue to act as vessels; whether created to physically hold important goods, or as a symbolic repository of memory, imbued with an inherent source of comfort for the possessor.

Jennie the mud crab represents the body as the vessel. She cannot be caught in NSW if she is egg-bearing. With females carrying over 10 million eggs, she is protected, but only for the brief period when her body is a vessel.