Working in reduction-fired stoneware, Jennifer Newman creates sculptural heads that sit at the intersection of portraiture, archaeology, and ancestral memory. Surfaces are built slowly through the use of iron oxide and ash glazes, allowing the kiln to play an active role in the final form. The resulting textures—pitted, scarred, and layered—suggest erosion, survival, and the passage of time.

Newman’s practice is deeply informed by personal history. Through research into her lineage, she traced her ancestry back to Robben Island and further to an Ethiopian tribe. These works are not literal portraits, but vessels of identity—quiet, resolute presences that hold memory within their material skin.

Each head is mounted on a charred oak base, grounding the ceramic form in a material marked by fire and transformation. Together, clay, ash, and wood speak to endurance and continuity, evoking artefacts that feel unearthed rather than made.