East by south west: The vessel and twentieth century studio ceramics

This was given at the World Ceramic Exposition in Korea and was an attempt to evaluate the cultural understanding of the vessel form in 20th century Europe and in Japan and Korea. It was a difficult paper to present because of the tense cultural relations between Korea and Japan - given that a key theme was a reassessment of Japan's Orientalist activities in Korea, building on the research of Yuko Kichuchi. It was an honour to be asked to speak at this conference and in many ways a learning experience. The atmosphere was highly politicised and my paper sought to look at the ways in which the vernacular vessel form was appreciated and appropriated using the tools of post-colonial scholarship. It was an opportunity to reach an international Far East audience and subsequently led to further visits to Japan.