First published 2024
Julia Phillips works alone in her studio, pressing clay against her skin to create molds that will become ceramic sculptures. Born in Germany in 1985, she fires each piece multiple times to achieve the exact flesh tones she needs. Her sculptures transform everyday tools and objects into something that speaks to deeper human experiences. Phillips draws from her studies in postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis, and Black feminist scholarship as she shapes each work. The ceramic body parts she creates become vessels for exploring how we connect with others and understand ourselves. Through her hands, ordinary materials become conduits for examining power, identity, and the spaces between bodies. Her first major publication captures this process of transformation, where personal touch meets political consciousness in clay.
Genres: art, literary-fiction, gender-studies, feminism, contemporary, biography-memoir, 21st-century, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-touch-meets-political-consciousness, vessels-for-exploring-connections
Setting: Germany
Period: 1985
174 pages · Hardcover · Mousse Publishing