In her new work Embodied Objects Tanya Doody examines the iconography of the Neolithic through touch, gesture and time. Engaging in new strategies for activating ceramic objects, her performances and installations break the medium of ceramics from its traditionally assigned roles rooted in utility, creating a space for poetic functions to emerge that relate to touch, the body, and inter-subjective exchange.
Tanya Doodyʼs ceramics-based practice includes installation, video and performance. She visions her focus on ceramics, a material traditionally used in the production of functional items for human use, as a way to re-connect the body to its environment, the bodies of others, and to itself. In her work, clay becomes a means of communicating touch and presence in a salient way. Through her extended ceramics practice she seeks to make place present, to activate bodies and to commemorate social exchange.
Tanya holds an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD) in Fine and Media Arts, a BFA from University of Victoria in Visual Arts, a Diploma from Sheridan College in Crafts and Design (Ceramics), and a Certificate of Fine Crafts (Ceramics) from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She lives and works in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.