Crafts Council Collections Online
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2014.1
Restoration Series: Aung San Suu Kyi (2014.1)
Catalogue Record
Collection
Maker
Stephen Dixon
Title
Restoration Series: Aung San Suu Kyi
Made in
Manchester
Date
2012
Description
Large ceramic portrait bust of Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi, with glazes and transfer prints.
Materials and techniques
Original model in clay, cast into multiple plaster piece-mould. Separate sections press-moulded in three clays: red earthenware, buff stoneware and porcelain (1050C bisque). Stoneware and porcelain clays glazed with transparent and coloured earthenware glazes (1120C electric firing). Screen-printed, open stock and digitally printed transfers (800C electric firing). Sections assembled with wooden pegs and epoxy resin, ceramic tile cement and grout.
Dimensions
height: 59cm
width: 41cm
depth: 30cm
Object number
2014.1
Category
Credit
Purchase of Aung San Suu Kyi (2014) supported by donations to mark Joanna Foster’s contribution as Chair of the Crafts Council.
Maker's statement
At the V&A I became particularly interested in the concept of 'heroic' portraiture, and the way that monumental public portraiture of heroic figures such as Admiral Nelson and Chairman Mao is translated into a more personal and democratic idiom through its remediation into ceramics. This led to a number of pieces, which adopted the portrait bust format, and culminated in the Restoration Series, which focused on three prisoners of conscience and Nobel Peace Prize winners, you might say my own political 'heroes'. The three Nobel peace Prize winners are linked by the fact that they were unable to receive their awards due to incarceration as prisoners of conscience in their own countries. Carl von Ossietzky (awarded 1935) perished in a Nazi concentration camp in 1938. Aung San Suu Kyi (awarded 1991) has since been released and collected her award in 2012. Liu Xiaobo (awarded 2010) is currently serving an 11 year prison sentence in China.