Framed ceramic sculpture

It is about a street dog called Sharik, who is subjected to scientific experimentation by having his brain removed and a human one transplanted in its place. He survives this operation, and after a few weeks, he begins to display human intelligence and behavior, including the ability to speak and communicate human-like demands and desires. However, at this point of articulation, the operation is reversed, and his canine brain is restored, making him a dog once again. Was he seen as merely a dog, embraced as a human, or cherished as a privilege? I sculpted dog paws as a kind of 'memento mori' for the fictional character. These fragments represent pieces of innocence that have been part of my sculpting process since I read Mikhail Bulgakov's book.

Fernanda Cortes is a Mexican artist known for her sculptural works.  As a sculptor of anthropomorphic medium-sized ceramic figures and the writer of their stories, her themes explore human moral dilemmas. She creates characters that traverse psychological states and navigate overwhelming emotional density, questioning the dehumanisation inherent in the human condition—a sort of contemporary mythology. She explores how narratives shape mental imagery, and the skill required to transform them into sculptures enriches her storytelling.  Now based in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.

Using my imagination to create anthropomorphic forms, I seek to create figures that emerge from an overwhelming emotional density and question whether my subjects are marked by a dehumanisation that I apprehend as a general condition. I can only say that they hover in the realm of the in-between of human and non-human. Qualities swirl about in this realm, like infusions of light and dark, but invariably they loom in a state of abject otherness. In this state there is a quality of a fold of force and emergence in which questions are emitted. Says Fernanda.

She has a foundation in Product Design at The National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 2013, she was an exchange student at the ENSCI Les Ateliers: École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris. As she approached the end of her undergraduate studies in 2014, she was awarded a scholarship that led her to Canada. At the Université de Moncton Faculté des Arts Visuels, she wrote her dissertation titled ‘A Compendium of Mexican Cooking Utensils’. This academic year not only deepened her understanding of art but also ignited a profound love for sculpting.

Fernanda Cortes pursued further education at the Royal College of Art in London. She was honoured to be granted the RCA Innovation Scholarship, which allowed her to immerse herself in the Ceramics & Glass Department for her MA programme. Her MA dissertation was titled ‘Clay and Suicide’. She explored and defined how the process of making is nourished by our life experiences, even those that can be perceived as brutal are fruitful for inspiring the process of making. She completed her MA in 2016.

Balancing her own artistic pursuits with teaching responsibilities, she actively contributes to the ceramics’ community.