If one’s hip brushes against a monumental bluff of clay, if legs submerge in a muddy lakebed, if one douses their head in porcelain slip, or if there is simply dry clay caked upon our hands, where does one body stop and the other begin? Are there moments when the human body and the clay body are inseparable?

This Studio Session examines the potential to communicate ideas and emotion by linking material and bodily movement. Whether we deliberately choreograph our actions (pinch, roll, press) or subconsciously release energy (grief, exuberance, confusion), clay records our imprint. Our touch generates a material reaction, which, in turn, influences our next action. By observing these reciprocal processes and patterns we develop a collaborative dance between maker and medium.

Nayoung Jeong is an interdisciplinary artist whose work takes form as performance and installation. Exploring identity rooted in heritage and uprooted by globalism, her process-oriented work evokes memories and questions to make the unfamiliar closer to familiar. Jeong was born and raised in Korea, and works and lives in Seoul, New York and London (or somewhere in the world). She received her BFA from California College of the Arts, and MFA at Rhode Island School of Design. She received a PhD from Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (University College London) in 2020.

This session took place in November 2023.