Clay as a memory (archive)
Clay not only has memory, but it also acts as a memory.
Clay having a memory
Something that I constantly reiterate to my students when throwing on the wheel is that clay has a memory. It remembers the shapes that we put it in and the contours that it holds. So if they inadvertently cause the piece to be slightly misshapen, sometimes the piece would resolve it on its own, as it remembers the form it was intially molded to. I'm not sure if it's the water within the clay particles that holds the memory, but without a doubt I know that clay has memory itself. Maybe clay has memory because Earth has a memory. Earth records everything that has happened to it within its strata, it recalls the goings-on from billions of years ago beneath its skin. Underneath that skin are pieces of clay that were forever changed into ceramic and used by Black people during their time in bondage.Clay acting as a memory
In "The Archaeology of African-American Slavery and Material Culture," Patricia Samford examines the results of archaeological digs around the slave quarters of many plantations across the southern United Stats . Within the layers of Earth's skin, archaeologists uncovered numerous items that helped Samford begin to reconstruct the lives of enslaved Black people. Despite the understanding that slavery in America went largely unrecorded, it's clear that the Earth remembers, that clay remembers. In her analysis, Samford draws connections between the archaelogists findings and West African culture, asserting that enslaved people held on to African practices despite their enslavers' attempts to cut them off from everything they once knew. Samford identifies objects that signalled enslaved people were practicing a religion extremely similar to a Yoruba religion praciticed in West Africa and theorized that the size of broken ceramic pots meant that they were making one pot stews, similar to those found in West African cuisine.In this way, the Earth is an archive, sharing the story of Black people even though they were left out of the dominate histories and prevented from speaking for themselves. The implications of this idea are vast: how many more Black and brown people were (and are being currently) ignored in the man-made histories, but speak loudly and freely in Earth's?
Face jugs - a memory
On plantations, black worlds ended often and without reason. Grief and death were a constant and finding ways to mourn was essential. The first face jugs are understood to have been produced at the plantations in Edgefield, South Carolina, where enslaved people were made to make pots. These jugs were made by grieving enslaved people and placed by the graves of their deceased loved ones. Face jugs often looked menacing with bared teeth and wide open eyes. This example of anthropomorphized pottery serves as another example of a remaining link between West African cultural traditions and the traditions of enslaved Black people in America.This page has paths:
- Clay as narrative/law Evelyn Logan
- Of Cotton, Clay, and Water: A Black retelling of the Anthropocene narrative Evelyn Logan