Ara Dolatian, Zu, 2023. Earthenware, glaze and oxide, 46 x 29 x 26cm. Courtesy: the artist and James Makin Gallery, Melbourne.

Art Dolatian’s latest body of work, Heavenly Bodies, examines the cultural ecologies surrounding the histories of present, lost and stolen Mesopotamian artefacts.

Through his tactile ceramic sculptures, Dolatian presents vivid representations of sculptural deities, architectural forms and vessels inspired by Mesopotamian myths and architectural sites. However, rather than replicating history, his intention is to render it anew, creating fictionalised deities with eccentric forms and colour schemes. In this way, Dolatian, reinstates the lost history of the region, while at the same time acknowledging – and drawing attention to – the fragmented nature of its archives. His work also pays homage to clay, the foundational material used and skillfully developed in ancient Mesopotamia.

Opening Event: Saturday 25 November, 2 – 4pm.

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