Mutable

This volume is the first major publication on the vast varieties of ceramic histories and practices in India. The result of the 2017 exhibition ‘Mutable’ at the Piramal Museum of Art, this book archives the work of hereditary potters, industrial ceramics, studio pottery and artists who use clay as a medium.

Situated within the larger context of the post-Independence craft revival, this volume pays keen attention to the trans-national histories of practice through five sections. The section Shift explores the local and international lineages of Indian studio pottery. Object discusses the ways in which clay has been a unique medium of expression for many artists. Utility considers the development of Indian ceramic industries, through lenses of economics and class. Form takes as its subject hereditary potters who negotiate modern-day artistic spaces. Perception focuses on the low-fired water container and its web of connections with its makers and users. The very mutability of clay and its shaper and the resulting dynamism, that produces both tensions and opportunities, are at the centre of this book.