ABOUT THE PORCELAIN VESSEL

Natasha Smoke Santiago was born in Rochester, New York, and raised in the Haudenosaunee culture. She works with different mediums, highlighting Haudenosaunee culture and the natural world. She is also one of the few artists who is working to revive Haudenosaunee pottery, which uses symbols on the pot to share a story the artist wants to tell.

This ceramic vessel, Water Pollution, the Problem, and the Protectors, made from unglazed porcelain, tells one story of the current state of the ocean. The rough texture towards the bottom of the ceramic piece, along with the imprints of metal tools, Lego pieces, toy tire tracks, and the plastic bag carving, illustrates the pollution and debris that currently affects the ocean. The carvings of the dead fish, Humpback whale, and turtle, and the sculpture of the seabird with plastic around its neck, display that wildlife is being harmed from all the pollutants.

The lines that separate the faces from the carvings, along with the four raised points that represent the four cardinal directions, suggest that this piece symbolizes the water of the world. The faces on the piece are used to portray guardians. The guardians show that there is a responsibility to protect the oceans, to be guardians of it. The ceramic piece stresses that humans have a responsibility to protect the oceans and stop the polluting. There is a risk of destroying nature if we do not change our ways, and we have the responsibility to make the earth a better place than we find it. -Elizabeth Crichton’28

 

Natasha Smoke Santiago Water Pollution, the Problem, and the Protectors, 2020
Unglazed porcelain vessel
SLU 2020.41
Richard. F. Brush Art Gallery St. Lawrence University Canton, NY