Lena Jajawi, 1997.

I am an artist and educator from London. My practice is centered on the materiality of clay and explores how it acts under different conditions. I use a range of porcelain, earthenware and stoneware clays.

I like to work playfully with clay surfaces, carving, slip trailing, painting and glazing onto them.

My practice expands to teaching. I currently work with both young children and adults, teaching different approaches to working with clay. I like to explore mark making, printing, carving and sculpting. I also teach wheel throwing to beginner potters.

In my most recent body of work, I have been carving directly into plaster moulds. My carvings start with family stories of migration and resettling. My drawings are never fully realised as they come from ‘borrowed memories’.

I use the plaster moulds to create casts in clay. The clay becomes the new holder of information, to be read by others.