Ceramics

The Body That Holds the Work

Ridhima Sood

Type of Project

Sculptural installation (research-based)

Medium

Ceramics, sculptural forms, installation, drawing, surface carving and plaster moulds.

Project Description

This project is about the body and the unseen labour it carries. I am working toward making large, bodily female figures that represent the physical body, surrounded by smaller, repeated curvy forms that symbolize the effort, work, and persistence the body performs. These smaller forms represent the invisible labour that often goes unnoticed while the final achievement or result is celebrated.

I am drawn to this project because of a personal experience from last semester. While working on multiple projects, exhibitions, and sales, I pushed my body far beyond its limits. I ignored exhaustion and continued working until my body forced itself to stop through illness. That moment made me realize how often we treat the body as something separate from our achievements, paying attention to it only when it breaks down. This project is a way for me to reflect on that realization and ask how we can shift our focus back to care and awareness.

The work relates closely to the world we live in now, where productivity, hustle culture, and constant output are valued more than rest or well-being. Many people experience burnout, yet the physical and emotional cost behind success is rarely acknowledged. I contextualize this work within feminist practices that center the body, labour, and lived experience. I am influenced by artists who use scale, repetition, and bodily forms to talk about endurance, vulnerability, and care, as well as my own experiences working intensively within art school and creative labour.

My research questions include: How can sculptural form communicate exhaustion and care? How can repetition reflect labour without glorifying overwork? How can the body be presented as something to be respected rather than used up?