Collection: Helen Doherty
Of Irish and Dutch parents, Doherty grew up in South Africa and England, and so has always been interested in the relationship between identity and place, in particular, the role culture plays in molding who we become. Growing up in these two hemispheres, yet receiving a British education in both (1970’s-1980’s), had the peculiar effect of planting a different landscape in her head – of green hills and daffodils – to the one which she physically inhabited – of red earth and droughts. Yet this experience has provided a rich reservoir of images and memories to draw on, and ceramics, which is rooted in cultural practice and identity, has allowed her to explore this dual consciousness.
As a ceramicist, fine artist and writer, Helen Doherty's work concerns myth-making: by drawing on the past yet bearing witness to the present, she tells stories both to pose and answer specific questions.