Imprint UAE native plants and wildflowers onto functional ceramicware, research and art

Hessa Al Ajmani is an Emirati visual artist born in Abu Dhabi and based in Ajman. Her current work with ceramics translates her passion for exploration and observation by imprinting native plants and wildflowers onto functional ceramicware as a form of research to understand more about the native flora that is present in the UAE

With observation and documentation of the natural world being a key element of Al Ajmani’s work, Drink Your Medicine looks closely at the UAE’s flora and documents them onto ceramicware. The process starts by handpicking wild plants from patches of desert throughout the city, as well as homegrown herbs and flowers from her mother’s garden, which are then carefully pressed into earthenware and stoneware clay before it is transformed into functional ceramicware

Source: Hessa Al Ajmani

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Al Ajmani then paints the impressions to mimic the original florals that she sources from the nearby desert and occasionally from her mother’s garden, a practice dictated by the climate and time of year. “My work naturally takes a whole season to prepare and/or relies on the occasional winter rainfall,” she says. “I allow it to grow organically and see it as a collaboration with nature. After all, clay itself is a material of the earth.”

---- Colossal

All of Ajmani's ceramic artwork is crafted with meticulous care. She hand-picks every plant that she then stamps into the clay, and even her forms are made completely by hand—without the use of a wheel—as she finds therapeutic joy in the tactile process of shaping the material. (They can take hours or even days to finish this way.) Once constructed and the clay is fired, Ajmani hand-paints the tiny imprints. The results are beautifully crafted pieces reminiscent of nature and its seasons.

---- MY MODERN MET

The marriage of interactions between the natural world and human psychology provide inspiration for Hessa Al-Ajmani, who has made her name with a flair for the floral. The canvass for her flower and plant imprints are ceramics, animating plates and bringing sharp life to pottery with paint and glaze.

---- TimeOutDubai Limited

Imprint UAE native plants and wildflowers onto functional ceramicware, research and art

Stories

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