Rust Series, 2021 

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­­The urban landscape is simultaneously dotted with traces of our presence in, and separation from nature, from orange hues that envelop steel exteriors to the rusted silhouettes of absent objects. With a desire to capture these traces rather than mimic their appearance, Nadire developed in her final year of university a slip-casting process, Rust Print. The process allows the rusted surface of steel to be directly transferred onto clay.

 

Initially documenting her textural surroundings through photography Nadire wants to capture something more physical. She records her primary traces by attaching sheets of steel to the ground outside where they are left to collect the marks accrued through human movement and natural weathering. Akin to framing a photo, Nadire attaches steel to surfaces chosen for their material qualities and quiet compositions, the meeting of a manhole cover with adjacent concrete or the mortared lines between laid bricks for example.

 

Each form is slip cast directly from the rusted steel surface and high fired, trapping the ephemeral patina of rust as a permanent trace on the clay body. The variety of iron oxides present on the steel produce an array of reds, browns, purples, pinks, and blacks on the ceramics surface.

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Rust Series was originally created for and exhibited at Growth with Thrown Contemporary, Omved Gardens, London 2021. It is an on-going series utilising the process, Rust Print.

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