Ximena Clavelli

My relationship with animals began with a pet. Since we were kids my sister and I loved animals, we begged our parents for years and at last he arrived, Mateo, a golden cocker spaniel completely spoiled that was part of our family for 16 years.

In the meantime many things happened, the family craft workshop, ceramics, college, photography, animation, illustration. I left Uruguay to go to Europe and missed America drawing maras and coatis. When I got back to Argentina, I travelled a lot through our immense landscapes and saw them everywhere. In
wildlife I found furry symbol of our region.

My wildlife porcelain jewelry is an expressive search. I attempt to set on it diverse aspects of my education and sensitivity. Among them are the years of ceramic research, the animal illustrations and the family workshop heritage. I also give this collection a conceptual meaning, mainly in the construction of a sense of belonging, my identity connected with my South American origin. Foxes are the main symbol of this quest; they are a tender metaphor of my peripheral identity. Like me, a south American woman, they are in the margins between wilderness and domestication, they survive in the borders between
nature and civilization.