My Choice Sculptural Vessel

50cm Sculptural Vessel

Stoneware Ceramics with Oxides, Slip and Glaze.

I started by throwing 10kg on the wheel and then started to handbuild each item.

This piece forms part of the #mybodymychoice protest art pieces.

The 3 heads stand for the maiden, the mother, and the crone.

With a uterus tied by flowers to the sacred heart. To form a narrative about sexuality and bodily autonomy and the link between the stages of womanhood (speaking from my own experiences).

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#MYCHOICE – a dedication too my daughter

Ceramic Stoneware Vessel

50cm, engobe, oxide, underglaze and glaze

Depicted are 3 heads. Those stand for the triple goddess, embodying the maiden, mother, and crone. It is an association with crossroads, journeys, and the cycles that women journey through throughout their lives and with their monthly cycles. I also represent two babies my husband and I have lost and the top one for our daughter that has grown and is the light of our lives.

The uterus underneath connects with flowers to the sacred heart. I have always found my sexuality deeply tied to emotions. As flowers, we go through cycles and if allowed to flourish we will open and bloom. You will find many flowers resembling vulvas. I have always found the vulva to be represented as petals, as we grow we flower. Some flowers are mutilated to represent the control religion and men and other women force upon us. This is a cycle as seen throughout the centuries and again in 2022 with fascism growing. From my childhood sex and masturbation have been taboo subjects. “if you touch yourself, your hand will fall off and God will punish you” have been prevalent throughout my years as ‘a child-maiden’. My wish for my daughter is that she will not be manipulated and believe the doctrine that wants to remove autonomy over her own body and sexual pleasure. As I often say to other women. If you do not touch yourself and find what brings you pleasure, how can you expect to convey that to your sexual partner?

"Claassens creates works rooted in bold memories of a southern African childhood which reflect a deep spiritual reverence for nature, subtly contrasted in the delicacy possible in ceramic. Her feminism is a theme manifested exquisitely in both her functional and purely aesthetic creations. They conjure whimsy and a playful sense of the magical in the eye and heart of the viewer who is drawn to respond physically to the tactile quality of these transformative pieces."