One does not usually come across ceramic artworks exhibited in art galleries. It is, perhaps, due to the lack of diversity in design and limited possibilities worth exploring that hold artists and students back from taking up this art or the shifting art trends that have made space for newer, more attractive mediums. However, the latest collection of earthenware by Nabahat Lotia, fired in the rare Obvara technique, challenges such notions, reintroducing us to pottery and its vast potential as an art form.

Obvara is an ancient firing technique used in ceramics which is a slight variant of Raku firing. The sombre shades of black and beige patterns are achieved by dipping freshly fired red-hot pieces into a mixture of flour, yeast and water, which burns the flour on the pot till it darkens into dynamic streaks. Lotia uses this technique to create exciting visuals that seem to imitate nature in abstract ways, the spontaneous process creating illusions of a deliberated charcoal drawing or a monochrome painting.

The artist says she always liked collecting small clay pots and trinkets, but it wasn’t until she moved back to Lahore for a few years when she discovered ceramics while searching for pots to keep in her home. She could only find basic flowering pots and decided to give the potters her own designs to make for her. Pretty soon, she was so involved that she started making her own pieces. What followed was 30 years of honing her skills, travelling, producing and showing her work in between raising a family. Yet, in hindsight she appreciates her journey, maintaining that, “If all this sequence wasn’t happening maybe I wouldn’t have achieved what I have achieved now.”

Nabahat Lotia’s latest exhibition of ceramics imitates nature through the ancient firing technique of Obvara

The pieces included in this show are unique and have an ethereal beauty to them. Lotia learnt the technique through YouTube videos coupled with trial and error, finding her way through experience. What is truly intriguing is the ways in which the texture settles on to the surface of the fired clay, mimicking familiar scenes and elements from nature. They remind you of a mountainous landscape or constellations in deep space, or even cracked desert floors, forests and rivers.

The sheer volume of work on display and the diversity of shapes, sizes and textures is a testament to the artist’s determination to explore the limits of her craft, presenting it in an exciting new shape with every piece. The process itself allows for little control over texture as it forges its own path across the piece. But the artist can make decisions about which areas she treats and how dark or light they turn out.

For example, a series of clay tablets burnt dark brown presented cracks reminiscent of lightning on a night sky (which the artist created by firing the piece at high temperature so it would break) and then treated each piece separately to achieve varied effects. Circular plates and disks feature a burnt line in the centre slowly fading to white, almost like a horizon line viewed through a camera lens.

Another point of interest is a series of pieces with sections of white crackled glaze which gives these plates a jewelled effect resembling the controlled pointalism of aboriginal art turned into a miniature abstract mosaic. Lotia says this is achieved by stopping the firing process right before the glaze melts into a uniform layer, which is considered a defect. The idea was taken from a visit to a Sri Lankan factory where discarded pieces featuring this ‘defect’ caught her imagination. Sometimes the correct way to do things can become boring and bending the rules can give you a pleasant surprise. 

The artist’s passion for her work has led her to new trajectories for each show that she has done and she has found Obvara to be the most captivating in its simplicity. The extensive body of works is an intriguing and unexpected twist in the realm of ceramics, casting it in a completely new light.

“Oh! Obvara” was on display at the Koel Gallery from November 14 till November 25, 2017

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 17th, 2017