Inside Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra: A consuming celebration in clay

Head to Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra first ceramics triennale to grasp and absorb all the forms clay can take

Burying oneself in one’s work takes on a whole new meaning as you watch Ester Beck’s film loop at Jaipur’s Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK). She and a co-artist painstakingly create a massive 4.5-tonne mound of clay, slice it like a cake with wire and a few other sharp instruments, and at some stage, bury themselves in it as they slowly destroy what they created.

 

Ester Beck, Matter is a Centre of Dreaming, 2018 (sculpture + performance). Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

 

For Beck, it is the act itself that carries