A celebration of soul.
LA BACANTE was created by África Aguiar Lería in Paris, 2024. The artist was born and grew up in Madrid (Spain) before moving to Paris in her early twenties, where her journey into ceramics began.
LA BACANTE is born out of a struggle for meaning. Navigating painful and disappointing life situations at the onset of adulthood launched the artist into a soul-searching journey. Clay became the vehicle of that intimate self-exploration, and from the hours spent in solitude with the earth crafting pieces came a message - it is the smallest of our daily rituals, our often overlooked connections to earth, to ourselves, to each other, and the celebration of minuscule joys, that give life its meaning.
And art, of course.
The pieces created by LA BACANTE reflect this message. All creations are slowly handbuilt using different techniques, mainly coil-building, pinching, carving and kurinuki. The artist finds that the slow pace imposed by handbuilding techniques is the tempo required for the creation of intentional pieces.
At the bottom of each vessel, a word is carved: this is the intention upon which it is built. The goal of LA BACANTE is for each piece to bring its unique qualities and emotions into our daily rituals, reminding us of their profound impact on our wellbeing, and of the magic they can hold if we allow it.
The name LA BACANTE draws its essence from the bacchantes of ancient Greece: free, wild women who gathered to celebrate femininity through rituals full of magic and mistery. It is this same vibrant energy and celebration of spirit that the artist strives to infuse through her pieces.
LA BACANTE embodies strength, femininity, and the profound beauty of each seemingly innocuous moment.