2019
Integrity is Anni Hagberg’s Bachelor of Fine Art third year graduate project representing both a material exploration within the ceramic firing process, as well as, a meaningful interaction with the human environment and the waste crisis we are living in. These works are primarily built from porcelain and gold lustre combined with discarded steel, broken glass, and left- over wood ash glazes. The material choices are intentional in creating an aesthetic exploration into Integrity as a structural and physical feature, as well as ‘integrity’ as an abstract notion of societal value. In the 1280°C ceramic firing process, the fine and malleable porcelain vitrifies to embody stability and strength, while the steel warps and reticulates into brittle, and disfigured remnants of its former resilience. In this same transformation, these found waste objects develop into objects of aesthetic value in their combination with the traditionally highly valued materials of porcelain and gold.
Integrity (2019) has been exhibited in full at Bendigo Pottery in December 2019 as well as Craft Victoria within the 2020 Fresh! showcase, where Hagberg was awarded the John Wardle Craft Prize and The Design Files Emerging Maker Award.
Photography by Janelle Low