"Terra Cognita. Basalt" is crafted from various types of stoneware blended with porcelain slip and pigments, evoking the charred remnants of landscapes altered by mining explorations. These increasingly common sites remain largely invisible to the public yet leave a profound impact on the environment. High-fired at 1250°C, the piece is fully water-resistant and handmade using premium stoneware locally sourced around Barcelona. It is framed in a floating frame with a metal hook for wall mounting. The Terra Cognita series draws inspiration from aerial views of remote terrains. From a satellite’s perspective, mining quarries, desert valleys, and salt flats are indistinguishable, appearing desolate yet captivating. This series does not prioritize hierarchies but presents these phenomena side by side, exploring how the landscape genre can reflect the complex interplay between humanity and nature. Recreating these landscapes in clay lends materiality and immediacy to distant, often inaccessible terrains. Mounted on a wall, these works allow viewers to engage with the unknowable, bridging the gap between observation and experience.

Maryia Virshych

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Maryia Virshych (b. 1989, Minsk, BY) received her Design Research MA from the Bau Design College in Barcelona, Spain (2016) and a BA in Architecture from Belarusian National Technical University (2012). She completed a Ceramics and Glass program at Escola Massana (Barcelona, ES) in 2024. Maryia has a background in architecture, space and product design, and craft, all of which reflect on her current work. She held positions as a creative at several design and art studios in Barcelona. In 2019, she started her own artistic practice - virmary, working primarily with clay. Maryia received numerous awards, such as the Design Award from the Royal Society of Art and the Residency Award from Domaine de Boisbuchet. In 2024 Maryia was a finalist at the XXXI Competition of Contemporary Ceramics Grottaglie and National Sculpture Prize Maria Belen Morales. She showed her work at various collective exhibitions: Ceramics Museum (Grottaglie. IT), Malta Society of Art (Valetta, MT), CICA Museum (Gimpo, KR), Thrown Gallery (London, UK), Site Brooklyn (New York City, USA), Palais Galerie (Neuchatel, CH), Sala d’Art Jove (Barcelona, ES), Cluster Crafts (London, UK) and others.