Anina Major, Scarlet Plum, 2022, Glazed Stoneware. Image courtesy of Shoshana Wayne Gallery and the artist.
September 29, 2022
By Lauren Guilford
Vessels are containers–spaces for bodies of volume to dwell, to fill up–shaped by what they have held and what they long to hold. In Anina Major’s solo exhibition “Inheritance” at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, fragmented baskets molded from clay operate as metaphorical vessels for strength, legacy and identity. Major’s forms resemble the oleaginous scales of a snake, latticed cages, husks and shells. They appear in various states of creation and deformation–some are partially woven, some are punctured or smashed in, and some are seemingly disintegrating or in a state of oxidization–creating a kind of lyrical tension and balance. These vessels contain a private sense of spirituality and phenomenology; their uncanny forms are simultaneously anthropomorphic and organic while also referencing a specific place and heritage. Inspired by the familiar straw markets from her hometown of Nassau, Major references the woven goods created by her family and consumed by tourists. By alluding to traditional and familial basket weaving techniques (plaiting)–largely marginalized as “craft” and labeled “women’s work”–the artist reclaims cultural heritage and legacy by imagining her own migrational and artistic identity.
