Martine Jackson is a ceramic artist based in Cape Town. She is known for her distinctive organic-shaped vessels, biomorphic forms and rich, glazed surfaces. She approaches each piece primarily as a sculptural medium whose dynamic tension comes from the interplay of three-dimensional form and two-dimensional surface.
Working with clay is an immersive experience for the artist whereby she is physically and emotionally engaged. She finds meditation in the laborious ceramic process – coiling by hand followed by multiple rounds of firing and glazing. Every contour is blended with past or present events. Memories are pressed into each and every surface, with the emotive sculpted form becoming a visual diary.
Jackson’s practice hinges on connecting to the human experience. She explores a number of themes in her work, including the maternal relationship, past familial wounds and the healing process.
Jackson’s work is also heavily influenced by nature and the expansive landscapes she spends time exploring with her family around South Africa. Her forms are often based on rugged mountain-scapes, biodiversity and the hues and textures surrounding them. Her work is animated by contrast: dark versus light, volume versus flat surface, control versus surprise. “My work always seems to take me to this place of wrestling with opposing things. I’m trying to find that elusive point of stability and balance,” she says.
