Jemma Gowland

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sculptural ceramics 2026

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Building on the long tradition of the porcelain figurine, Jemma creates expressive and detailed porcelain figures exploring upbringing and attitude, using cast doll faces, fired dressmaker’s pins and mixed media. The figures show the girls dressed for display, as a plaything, entertainment or ornament, reflecting the norm of the figurine, a girl as pretty object to be displayed. But the subjects represented here may undermine or rebel against this representation; they describe strength, attitude, sisterhood and resistance, the mask as disguise to fit us into the world.

 

The work explores the way that girls are constrained from birth to conform to an appearance and code of behaviour, to present a perfect face, and maintain the expectations of others. The use of porcelain, or of stoneware with layered disrupted surfaces, denote value yet describe the vulnerability beneath.

 

From the moment we are born gender can dictate our future. Looks and behaviour are already prescribed. Stand up straight, smile nicely, say please.

 

Most recent work draws on the traditional history of the figurine, from Meissen to the present; echoing the white unglazed finish with gold lustre. Current themes build on this tradition, with it’s symbolism of the female figure as ornament and object, to highlight issues of growing up female in the modern world.

 

Being a mother, wife and daughter, as well as starting life as a woman working in a largely male field, has led to an examination of the role of the female, and how societal norms can still shape the way children are raised.

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