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IDOLS of UNNATURAL HISTORY | COMPANIONS for a HAUNTED CHILDHOOD | TOTEMS from LIMINAL HEART

I am Reuban Barwell, an autistic transmasculine artist and self-confessed animist. I work in porcelain and mixed media, regarding spirit as a muse (if not partner). Despite my weakness for the occult, I try to keep one foot earthbound and embrace the contradiction. All my works serve as totems seeking to connect outwardly dissonant energies — be that animal with human, solemness with folly, inner with outer worlds, or ancestral remnants within unfolding modernity.

The age is exciting as it is strange. The natural and artificial are not so easily separated. Our spiritual origin in Eden has been replaced with secular understanding that our past is wholly animal. Cultural certainty hesitates as questions lead to an unfolding of an increasingly complex world where machine intelligence may surpass our own. Indeed, human sentience appears to be at a threshold, forced to navigate a liminal space of the old, the new and the unseen as we transition into the next phase of our collective journey. It is a lot to take in. Perception is everything and reflecting on our origin is important if we are to know what parts of our past to bring with us. From liminal heart I create totems for our unnatural history and haunted childhoods.

My idols tribute our unnatural history: our animal selves distorted by divine ambition, the gods we named and forgot, the steps taken from church to museum, and the shamanic impulse within every specimen a human hand sought to preserve.

My imps are companions for those wishing to befriend a haunted childhood: are they dolls, fetish or golem? Whatever they are, imps love subliminal wanderings through the past gloom of schooldays. They understand that we can never rewrite our origins, and — if we understood the power of an integrated shadow — we wouldn’t want to.

In a world full of tension, complexity, and potential, integrating dissonance is a gateway. All my totems serve as conduits between our natural selves and our unnatural reflections of a world reimagined by us.

PROCESS

While studying for a Masters in Ceramics, I developed my process and love of porcelain alongside a growing interest in animism. This is why the head — as a seat of consciousness — is a recurring and important theme in my work.

Each new porcelain head originates from a prototype sculpted in wax. This prototype is used to make a plaster mould, from which multiple porcelain casts are made. These porcelain slip-casts are a foundation. It is in the next stage where the true spirit emerges as I hand detail — carving, adding, hollowing — to sculpt the individual character of each piece. After the work has been detailed it is left to dry slowly before being bisque fired. Work may be embellished with sprigs, inlays, or stained slip, and some pieces are treated with lustres or enamels as final decoration before being fired for the last time. The creation of a new mould is a lengthy process, but it ensures each head is strong and able to be carved with meticulous detail.

Some porcelain heads are made to be combined with textiles. For their bodies I select from cotton, linen or mohair. Many are hand embroidered too, favouring scrawls childlike in their observation or motif mad with folly and the macabre. A variety of materials are used to embellish these totems, including: metal, glass, wood, and leather. They are truly mixed media and a feast of different textures. Each is unique, and in honour of spirit I place a crystal heart within each of their cloth vessels for that extra touch of juju.

xXx - THANK YOU for VISITING and BLESSINGS - xXx

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