Becoming The Self

Becoming The Self is an evolving modular ceramic sculpture conceived as a self-portrait that extends beyond individual identity to reflect collective experience. Constructed from large-scale reconfigurable bricks, the work understands becoming as a process shaped by pressure, unwanted intervention, rupture, and the ongoing necessity to rebuild rather than as a stable or resolved state.

During the life of the work, two ceramic elements were damaged as a result of external interference. This rupture became central to the sculpture's meaning, marking destruction imposed from outside rather than intentional transformation. The broken elements function as material evidence of vulnerability and endurance – a reminder that identity is often formed under conditions not of one's choosing.

Alongside cracked and fractured components, the sculpture includes biscuit-fired ceramic bricks left unglazed. These elements operate as a blank canvas – a point of beginning from zero. Texts embedded within the bricks, drawn from Ukrainian and international literature as well as the artist's own writing, reference works that have shaped personal and collective identity, connecting Ukrainian cultural memory with broader global and intergenerational contexts.

The sculpture is designed to evolve over time. It was reconfigured during a live performance, during which additional bricks were introduced and the structure partially rebuilt, framing rebuilding as an ongoing process and the repeated act of finding oneself again in the aftermath of rupture.