"Terra Cognita. Rivers of Fire" is crafted from white groggy stoneware, hand-shaped and deformed to evoke a crumpled earth surface. Layers of black and red engobes, along with shiny metallic glazes, are applied in overlapping patterns. Finally, streams of lava-like glaze are added as a finishing touch. High-fired at 1250°C, it is 100% water-resistant. Made by hand with premium stoneware sourced locally around Barcelona, it includes a wooden stretcher on the back for wall mounting. The Terra Cognita series draws inspiration from aerial footage of isolated landscapes. From the satellite’s view, mining quarries and salt flats are nearly indistinguishable, appearing equally desolate yet captivating. This series doesn’t seek to build hierarchies but instead documents these phenomena side by side, exploring how the landscape genre can evolve to reflect the complex relationship between humanity and nature. Reproducing these images in clay gives tangible form to remote terrains, often inaccessible or even illegal to approach. Mounted on a wall within arm's reach, these works evoke complex feelings of landscape—longing, nostalgia, and unease—as they quietly declare, “I was here,” inviting viewers to connect with the unknown.

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.