Francesca Anfossi: Gathering
Shtager in the Garden
2025
Opening 25 June , 6-8.30 PM
25 June - 13 September 2025
Set in a walled garden among herbs and pollinator-friendly plants, Francesca Anfossi’s sculptures in ceramics and wood remind us of the inherent connection of human lives with plants and soil. Constructing a space for gathering – rooted in a shared meal and delight in shapes and scents of the surrounding flora – the works appear manifestly alive. Titled after common plants, such as Crocus or Euphorbia, Anfossi’s clay works morph into humorous, asymmetrical, yet grounded forms, that seem caught in the moment of gradual growth. Pointing to the paths of nutrition and well-being, from clay, to plants, to our table, the sculptures in the exhibition stem from the intersection between observation, environmental awareness and human creativity.
In Touch Me Smell Me Plant, the ceramic stem humorously balances four planters evoking human arms. Uneven lines and grooves along the surface made with fingers evoke tree bark from a cartoon-like or fairy-tale realm. Bringing together organic and inorganic things, the work exposes the ease of transitions and cycles of states in nature. Anfossi’s lamps, such as Helianthus also appear at once plant-like and anthropomorphic, emitting a warm glow in the shared and convivial space.
For Anfossi, the ceramics is a material notable not only for its versatility, but also for the inherent inclusivity – the product of the earth that has been central to human life since the beginning of time. The installation of the set table, with the selection of the artist’s platters and utensils is emblematic of her interest in the social value of ceramics, as objects at the centre of celebration and exchange.
Anfossi is the co-founder of Rochester Square, a dynamic community of potters in Camden which brings together both internationally exhibiting artists and ceramics enthusiasts, emphasising the accessibility of clay as a material open to any level of skill and technique. Anfossi’s practice, spanning ceramics, collaborative workshops, cooking classes or community projects thus maintains a strong focus on bringing people together and finding joy in the everyday.
Francesca Anfossi was born in Italy and now lives and works in London. The artist holds an MFA in painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, 2008. She is the winner of the Whitegold International Ceramic Prize, St Austell, UK 2020-2021. Recent exhibitions and projects include Corner7, London (2024), Museo Diffuso Albisola, Italy (2024), Museo della Ceramica Savona, Italy (2023), Creative Learning Programme, Residency, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2020), Square meal, Frieze Art Fair VIP programme, London (2019), Camden Arts Centre (2017), among many others. Anfossi is the author of a cookbook titled From the pot to the earth at Rochester Square published by Sternberg Press in 2022.
Text by Maria Hinel