When the word “ceramics” is mentioned, what most people imagine would likely be ornate traditional household objects and tableware. Any association with, or notion of, contemporary art might just be furthest from what one’s mind may typically conjure. Until, of course, they become acquainted with the clay and ceramics artworks by Umi.
Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail, also known as "Umi", is a ceramic artist born in 1975 in Malaysia. Since 1997, she has participated in exhibitions in various spaces across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and Pakistan.
Umibaizurah represented Malaysia in the 2009 Jakarta Ceramics Biennale. She was among the Top 10 Winners of The Young Contemporaries 2006 by The National Art Gallery Malaysia, and was awarded Top 5 Winners for her collaboration with children in making clay sculpture at the Tokoname City Culture Hall, Aichi, Japan.
Umi’s works are collected by various institutions and private collectors: National Art Gallery Malaysia, Petronas Gallery Malaysia, Asia Arts Network Seoul Korea, and Aliya & Farouk Khan Collection, Malaysia.
Seeing her work, the idea that Umi pushes the traditional boundaries of ceramics would be an understatement. Over the many years that she has been active, ceramics has successfully been used as a medium to address and tackle many contemporary issues, occurring both domestically and globally. Among them are unfettered development at the expense of the environment, the state of the nation, and humanity through the lenses of economics and politics.
The seriousness of her subject matter is camouflaged by the playful visual quality of her ceramic sculptures and assemblages. Many of her works are imagined hybrids of species, objects and machinery, linking the multitude of issues concerning the modern world we live in.
As sublimely toy-like as they may appear, these works of contemporary art are certainly not items for child play, but instead are deeply rooted in meaning and aesthetic, as can be surmised from the intricate surface imagery each objet d’art possesses.
