“Terra Cognita. Desert Green” is made of khaki stoneware brushed with various shades of green engobes. Its cracked fluid-like surface is suggestive of dried algae on a sandy sea bottom. High-fired at 1250°C, it is fully water-resistant. Made by hand with high-quality stoneware sourced locally near Barcelona, it comes framed in a floating frame with a metal hook for wall display. The Terra Cognita series draws inspiration from aerial footage of remote landscapes, where quarries, deserts, and salt flats appear desolate yet captivating. This series avoids creating hierarchies, presenting natural and industrial sites side by side as reflections on the complex interplay between humanity and nature. Rendering these images in clay provides tangible closeness to terrains often inaccessible or restricted. Hung within reach, these works evoke feelings of longing, nostalgia, and unease, subtly asserting, “I was here,” and inviting viewers to connect with the unknown.

Maryia Virshych

Message

Follow

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.