LACED FREEDOM, 2026

Laced Freedom explores paradoxes of confinement and agency. Hand built from white clay, glazed and adorned with gold lustre and leather cord; the front and back apertures create a visible interior that both conceals and reveals. The leather lacing evokes a corset-like restraint, suggesting self-imposed limits. Inside, a male Superb Fairy Wren – rendered small, delicate and sitting on a gilded plinth – gazes outward as if longing for freedom.

The sculpture’s quiet irony is revealed when you notice the bird’s tail exiting the vessel: his apparent captivity is, in fact, his own perspective.t.

The work invites you to question what it means to feel trapped: are the constraints always external, or do they sometimes stem from a personal internal belief or understanding? Ultimately the piece explores the tension between feeling trapped and the quiet possibility of choice.

18 x 25 x 12cm

White midfire clay, kings blue underglaze, cobalt oxide, glaze, gold lustre and leather cord.