Julia Isídrez

Nottingham Contemporary will present the first international institutional solo exhibition of the Guaraní artist and ceramicist Julia Isídrez (b.1967, Paraguay), whose clay sculptures trouble and enlighten many issues that define cultural debate today – from indigeneity and identity politics to craft.

Rooted in the ceramic traditions passed down through generations of women in Itá, Isídrez learned the craft from her mother Juana Marta Rodas, working with local clay and long-standing Guaraní techniques that were gradually adapted over time.

These inherited processes - from shaping to firing and fumigation - underpin her practice while allowing her to expand the vocabulary of regional ceramics.

In contrast to these traditional techniques, the subject matter of her works is anything but conventional: hybrid dinosaur-like figures and multi-headed spherical amphibians populate her sculptures.

These fantastical creatures are chimeras, unattainable beings of Isídrez’s imagination, yet still resonant with popular traditions and folklore.