Martín Hanley

(Framingham, Massachusetts)

Paper maché spikes hang from the ceiling. They are like stars in the night sky.

As a potter, I have a direct connection to the Earth where I am only a microcosm of the forces that reshape the earth. However small my marks may be, I extend these imprints to my practice as a sculptor with the ability to express myself in very physical forms yet allowing for more conceptual understanding as well. 

I show my interpretation of the world around me through these forms. My work often deals with personal and intimate emotions, but also with how greater forces suppress our ability to form unique perspectives.

With the understanding of how our ability to interpret is often blurred, I chose to investigate the violence, fear, and misrepresentation of our reality because of  the coronavirus. At the moment of writing this, over five hundred fifty thousand people have died from SARS-CoV-2 in the United States. While the virus is certainly violent in form and function, its spread has been aided with contempt for the people and financial greed from its first case in the United States. 

As family and friends lost jobs, grew hungry, were evicted, and died unexpectedly, we were forced to watch as other governments tended to their people with great medical attention, food aid, and concrete lockdowns. Had we approached this microscopic threat with serious intentions, perhaps half a million people would not have had to die.

Paper maché spikes hanging from the ceiling.

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