• About us
  • Magazine
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Thursday, July 10, 2025
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now
Subscribe now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • 2025 Ceramics Calendar
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
Ceramics Now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • 2025 Ceramics Calendar
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now
Home Ceramic art

Fernanda Cortes: Selected works, 2016-2022

April 24, 2023
in Ceramic art

Fernanda Cortes: Selected works, 2016-2022

Experience draws many lines into the fabric of our being, and the passing of time creates a relationship between these vectors. Humanity as a whole is laden with this network, and this, in turn, might be translated as a dark destiny. Sometimes I cannot see through this darkness, yet I need to find figures through which presentation might occur.

Using my imagination to create ceramic anthropomorphic forms, I seek to create figures that emerge from an overwhelming emotional density and question whether my subjects are marked by a dehumanization that I understand to be a general condition. I can only say that they hover in the realm between human and non-human.

Qualities swirl about in this realm, like infusions of light and dark, but invariably they loom in a state of abject otherness. In this state is the quality of a folding of force and emergence, in which questions are emitted.

Lo Naco, Lo Fresa, 2022

San Naco
San Naco
San Naco
San Naco altar
Santa Fresa
Santa Fresa
Santa Fresa altar

I developed the project ‘Lo Naco, Lo Fresa,’ for which I was awarded the “Developing your Creative Practice Grant” by the Arts Council England. I had the opportunity to develop this project at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany (Italy) and Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center (Denmark).

This artwork is related to two Latin American Spanish words, mainly used in Mexico City. They describe a dichotomy or the traces of its colonial legacy. Deeply rooted in classism and racism, two widely recognized cultural stereotypes in Mexico: ‘Lo Naco, Lo Fresa.”

Naco is a derogatory word used in Mexican Spanish to describe someone uncouth or loutish. The term is often associated with lower social classes.

Fresa is a slang social term used in Mexico to describe a cultural stereotype of superficial people who, by the traditional definition of the word, come from an upper-class family with the objective of mimicking American and European backgrounds.

I was inspired by stereotypical figures, illustrating them through various media, including internet images, videos, popular songs, and personal experiences. While making the artwork, I realized the stereotypes I used are prejudiced based on my experience living in Mexico City almost ten years ago. Those images of these two characters are my reference to how I grew up in the middle of these two worlds and how I structured my own identity.

(The) Naco, or as I titled it, “San Naco,” is holding a corn, an essential ingredient in Mexican food; a rosary, representing the syncretism with polytheist and Catholic religion; and a skull, that is part of our stereotypical festivities in the world call the Mexican Day of the Dead. He is wearing fake brand shoes and trousers that approach to want it could be considered kitsch or bad taste for the upper classes.

(La) Fresa, or as I titled it, “Santa Fresa,” is wearing designer clothes in a relaxed, almost indifferent posture that doesn’t observe the audience. She is holding a coffee and a note or a piece of paper representing the privilege to obtain any good, travel, or even education. I created a clean and polished atmosphere, almost clinical, because I felt distant from the style of life of a Fresa.

Pesantezza, 2020

Part of ‘Common Disquiet’ exhibition (Yorkshire Artspace, 2022) and winner of the City of Vénissieux Award at the XV Bienal Internacional de Cerámica de Manises 2022

Paraiso, 2020

Mitla, 2017

Sharik’s Leftovers, 2016

Delicatessen
La-la-la (In Blood)
The Crucifixion Starts With a New Day
You Will Find Yourself in Darkness
Tags: Fernanda Cortes

Related Posts

Jane Yang-D'Haene ceramic art
Ceramic art

Jane Yang-D’Haene: Selected works, 2024

June 25, 2025
Kristy Moreno ceramics
Ceramic art

Kristy Moreno: Selected works, 2023-2025

June 23, 2025
Mohamad Soudy ceramics
Ceramic art

Mohamad Soudy: Selected works, 2013-2020

June 16, 2025
Ho Lai ceramics
Ceramic art

Ho Lai: Traces of Fragments, 2024

June 2, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *






Latest Artist Profiles

Jane Yang-D'Haene ceramic art
Artists

Jane Yang-D’Haene

June 25, 2025
Kristy Moreno ceramics
Artists

Kristy Moreno

June 23, 2025
Mohamad Soudy ceramics
Artists

Mohamad Soudy

June 16, 2025
Ho Lai ceramics
Artists

Ho Lai

June 2, 2025

Latest Articles

Michelle Im ceramics
Articles

Hello, Goodbye: Michelle Im on Diaspora, Ritual, and the Labor of Care

by Ceramics Now
July 2, 2025
Graciela Olio post ceramics
Articles

Post-Discipline and Post-Ceramics. Questions and reflections from a Latin American perspective

by Ceramics Now
June 26, 2025
Pekka Paikkari ceramics
Articles

Fragments of History. Pekka Paikkari’s exhibition at the Ensérune Oppidum and Archaeological Museum

by Ceramics Now
June 25, 2025
Zizipho Poswa
Articles

Shaping Visibility: Reflecting on Representation in South African Ceramics

by Ceramics Now
June 19, 2025
Instagram Facebook LinkedIn
Ceramics Now

Ceramics Now is a leading independent art publication specialized in contemporary ceramics. Since 2010, we promote and document contemporary ceramic art and empower artists working with ceramics.

Pages

  • About us
  • Magazine
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Subscribe to Ceramics Now Magazine

Join a vibrant community of over 22,000 readers and gain access to in-depth articles, essays, reviews, exclusive news, and critical reflections on contemporary ceramics.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

© 2010-2025 Ceramics Now - Inspiring the next generation of ceramic artists.

  • Subscribe to Ceramics Now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • Ceramics Calendar 2025
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
  • About us
    • Ceramics Now Magazine
    • Submissions
    • Advertise with Ceramics Now
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result

© 2010-2025 Ceramics Now - Inspiring the next generation of ceramic artists.