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Kaneez Zehra Hassan | Episode 1199
Kaneez Zehra Hassan (Zia) is a Pakistani-American ceramic artist based in Utah. Zia hand-builds vessels that explore identity, memory, and cultural inheritance. Influenced by archaeology, Sufi philosophy, and wabi-sabi aesthetics, Zia creates forms that honor endurance and the quiet histories held within everyday objects.
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Why would you say your work needs to exist now?
Because it’s important that these stories get told. If I am one of the many people who are telling these stories, then why not? To me this work is important and has become more important in the past year, especially in a place like Utah where I am part of a minority, has really opened up people to experience a different culture
Why is clay the right material for the story you are trying to tell?
Because it is the material that really speaks to me the most and is able to literally ground me in a way that makes it easier for me to tell these stories. So that’s why clay.
Why is showing vulnerability important in your work?
For me it is important because I have not been able to do that in my life before. Being able to be vulnerable through my work has really allowed me to be more myself… to be outside the confines of whether its cultural or societal restrictions. That’s why it has allowed me to tell my story without censoring myself, which I have had to do. Clay has allow me to do that.
Why are you the right person to build the bridge?
I wouldn’t say I am the right. I’m the most available person. It has taken me a very long time to even consider myself an artist so I wouldn’t say that I am the “it” person to bridge that gap. I am just one of the many bricks to build that bridge.
What is one of your favorite reactions people have had to your work?
You know, I work in a community space and while I am making a piece, having one of my fellow ceramic people looking at my work and all the sudden see the light bulb glow in their head and see in their work they get a little more experimental with their work because they see me. I think that is my favorite reaction.
How do you see your work contributing to the ongoing story of ceramics itself?
That is a question I have been thinking a lot about. I would like to bring these traditional form, whether they are from my country in South Asia or Africa… these everyday objects that get made out of clay in ceramics and get pushed into these anthropologic box and not a lot of ceramic art really play around with those forms and bring them to the forefront. I think in the long run I would like to highlight those everyday objects and bring them out of the museums and the galleries and have people really start looking at those forms and connecting with those cultures.
Book
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Contact
Instagram: @ziaceramicsdesign