Raft (2009)
Why do people collect ceramic animal figurines and place them within their homes? Most households seem to own at least one—often perched on a shelf, mantel, or cabinet—frequently positioned to “look” out of a nearby window, as if it were quietly keeping watch.
Instead of embracing Noah’s expansive ideology of gathering every species, I chose to focus my collecting on just two: the cat and the dog. These creatures are now the most familiar and emotionally intertwined with domestic life. Our relationship with them is so intimate that people often define themselves as either a “cat person” or a “dog person,” as though these animals reflect aspects of our own temperament.
With this in mind, I wanted to embed these figurines into an unmistakably domestic object: the standard lamp. The lamp becomes a raft-like base carrying an assembly of breeds, while a soft, diffused, almost celestial light cascades over them. When the animals are viewed together en masse, their individual characteristics begin to surface—the subtle differences in posture, expression, and personality that distinguish one figurine from the next.
Each illuminated Raft forms a quiet community, a harmonious pack gathered together and gently drifting through an imagined journey. The work invites viewers to reflect on why we surround ourselves with these miniature companions, and how they act as symbolic guardians, storytellers, and emotional placeholders within the landscape of the home.