Indira Freitas Johnson

Human Technology; Seeking IV (2015)
ceramic, mixed media
12 x 19 x 11 in.

For over a decade, I have been using objects discarded by society in combination with my sculptural work to create new objects that explore the constant process of transformation and change in the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. My fascination for these abandoned objects has grown over the years leading me to question the issues of permanence and decay, strength and vulnerability.

I combine disparate objects to create a new form, one which still retains vestiges of its original identity yet containing different qualities; figurative, conceptual, experiential. Thus these common found objects in their transformed state have a renewed energy and sensibility functioning physically as well as spiritually, reinforcing the idea of the sacredness of everyday life.

Some of the objects that I have used are often invisible to us, camouflaged as they are by functionality and domesticity and discarded without a second thought with the breakdown of their function. Others are only visible in death, like the inner workings of computers, industrial machines and animal bones found in alleys, along roadways in dumpsters or forest paths. These repurposed works help us think about the wider process of change and what our connections to ‘things’ says about us.