Ceramic Queen

Queen from series "Totentanz" 2025 Ceramic, glaze, pearl and gold lustres.

Totentanz (The Dance of Death) chess transforms a battlefield of strategy into a theatre for the uncanny. Poised between myth and menace, each piece merges the regal and the surreal; queen is crowned in gold, l. The contrast of glossy black and ivory white, traced with gilt, turns every move into a ritual where ‘Checkmate’ feels less like victory than an elegant surrender to the inevitable. ____________________
Working through ceramics, sculpture and installation, Camilla uses a dichotomy of beauty and horror to explore a more honest portrayal of the human condition.She frequently employs humour to tackle taboo topics concerning women and their sexuality, often pushing the boundaries of femininity to a place that becomes uncomfortable. Her ceramic sculptures are both narrative and figurative, often asserting the carnal aspects of our bodies and their desires. By materialising the familiar in an unfamiliar context her work stimulates our ability to rethink our relationship towards objects, threatening the natural order and toying with the tensions that lie between beauty and repulsion, curiosity and discomfort, desire and disgust Camilla Hanney (b. 1992) is an Irish artist based in London. She holds an MFA from Goldsmiths University (2017-2019) and a degree in Visual Arts Practice from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (2010-2015). Since relocating to London, her work has - featured in both solo and group exhibitions across Ireland and the UK, showcasing her practice at notable venues such as the South London Gallery (in collaboration with Bloomberg New Contemporaries), Unit 1 Gallery, Muse Gallery, Dora House, Messums, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, Gallery Rosenfeld, and Cromwell Place Gallery.
Camilla received the Sarabande Foundation Studio Bursary for 2019/20 and was the runner-up for the UK Young Artist of the Year award at its inaugural ceremony held at Saatchi Gallery in 2019. She was also one of the winners of the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award in 2020 and has received Irish Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary Awards in both 2020 and 2024. Additionally, she was awarded the 2022 Newbury Trust Craft Excellence Award in collaboration with Cockpit Arts and selected for the 2022 Pallas Projects

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