The Rots
7th Feb - 31st March - EXTENDED to 30th April, 2026
Clink Street Ceramics, London
Red textured stoneware, iron reactive glaze, silk, wool, hair, cotton, leather, resin
37cm x 32cm x 41cm
A Smaller Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, brass rivets, resin
22cm x 25cm x 24cm
Resourceful Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, acrylic paint, velvet, brass rivets, resin
35cm x 28cm x 22cm
Red textured stoneware, iron reactive glaze, silk, wool, hair, cotton, leather, resin
37cm x 32cm x 41cm
A Smaller Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, brass rivets, resin
22cm x 25cm x 24cm
Resourceful Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, acrylic paint, velvet, brass rivets, resin
35cm x 28cm x 22cm
Red textured stoneware, iron reactive glaze, silk, wool, hair, cotton, leather, resin
37cm x 32cm x 41cm
A Smaller Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, brass rivets, resin
22cm x 25cm x 24cm
Resourceful Rot, 2026
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, acrylic paint, velvet, brass rivets, resin
35cm x 28cm x 22cm
Red textured stoneware, human hair, silk, leather, cotton, iron reactive glaze, oil pastel, brass rivets, resin
22cm x 25cm x 24cm
PRESS RELEASE
Negotiating the languages of ceramics and textiles, The Rots is a display by artist Anouska Samms. Showcasing her signature “Rot” sculptures, distinct modes of making are combined to provoke conversations around mimicry, hapticity as sensorial communication, and deconstructions of flesh. Impressions of her fingers imprint the surface through movements of punching, pinching, scratching and ripping apart. Part hard, part soft sculpture, the sides of each Rot are ‘fractured’ with gaping holes, filled delicately with Samms’ weaving of reclaimed silks from industrial mills, leather and hair. Samms’ handbuilt works are informed by the mechanisms and aesthetics of traditional crafts, yet through her embrace of gesture, new hybrid structures are proposed.
Samms visually communicates mimicry and mimesis, revealing the interconnectedness of imitation with the repetitive patterns and processes of weaving and ceramic coiling. She explores the inherent properties of the materials themselves. Not only do materials migrate and crosspollinate between works, with the ‘leftovers’ of one piece finding its way into another, but this exploration extends itself to an imitation of both surface and process - she creates her own ‘material mimicry.’ Sometimes one material will become a mirror of a different type of material altogether, where textures such as wood or bark are reproduced using Samms’ own alternative blend of ‘glazes’ to colour the work, such as oil pastel, paint and sand. There is a transparency to this process of disguise, as these materials allow the viewer to see both - what they are, and what they appear to be.
Here Samms’ ‘material mimicry’ serves as a metaphor for yielding to one’s environment, whether that be the external, the domestic, or the internal psyche. Mimicry is not exclusively practiced by animals. From social behaviour to fashion and material culture, humans too imitate resemblances for survival. Through Samms’ use of assemblage and her consistent motifs of hues and textures, she explores the ways emotional experiences can be disguised in culture through surface and aesthetic representation. From the continual deconstruction of her handwoven silk and hair textiles, to her fractured ceramic shards, Samms visually explores the gooey rupturing underneath a protective layer.