Surrounded by randomness and unpredictability, it is nearly impossible to ascribe concrete meaning to the human experience. It is in human nature, however, to give meaning to everything; we crave logic, reasons, and explanations. Life oscillates between extremes, but the bulk of our time is spent in the space between those extremes—where we are neither stable nor volatile, neither balanced nor chaotic. The craving to find purpose, coupled with an inability to do so sometimes, is a fascinating phenomenon to explore. At first, my work was a means to represent the world around me, to try to rationalize chaos. But as life and society got more and more uncertain, my work became an exploration of uncertainty itself. I grapple with and confront these questions primarily through the use of clay. Clay is a beautiful, tactile, malleable, living, and timeless material. When fired, it is immortal and impermeable; when unfired, it is ephemeral and temporal. The material’s ability to assume numerous and diverse forms is what mesmerizes me; furthermore, the material’s propensity to retain memory and touch grants me the freedom to express myself, physically, into the work I make. Through clay, I attempt to find harmony between logic and chaos. With every piece I make, I aim to create a context for comprehending the large and unanswerable questions I ask, both for myself and the viewer. Through making, creating, and expressing, I intend to explore the unusual and indefinite space between certainties and find comfort in the discomfort of the unknown.
Pooja Krishnan is a sculptor & mathematician who lives in Seattle, Washington. Pooja was born in Bellevue, Washington, then lived in Hyderabad, India, until moving back to Seattle for high school. Growing up, Pooja was always surrounded by art; her mother, a painter, promoted and encouraged visual art and creativity in every way possible. Although Pooja’s main medium of choice was originally pen & paper, when Pooja took her first ceramics course in college, she immediately fell in love. Clay could take the forms that two-dimensional media did not permit. Pooja spent four years at the University of Washington’s 3D4M program, working with materials such as ceramics, wood, glass, metal, and more. Pooja Krishnan graduated with Honors in March 2020 from the University of Washington’s School of Art + Art History + Design. At the University, her work was exhibited at the 3D4M’s Open House undergraduate exhibition; she completed her studies with a solo thesis exhibition, Lucid Dreaming, in November 2019.