LAUREN JOFFE
Hidden

Hidden has been a response to the 2020-2021 Covid pandemic and feelings of fear, isolation, loneliness and anxiety during this time. After suffering a significant traumatic event a few years ago, Lauren Joffe has been dealing with complex PTSD. Her art practice has been an outlet for her feelings of loss and grief, but has also been a way for her to start to regain her sense of self. Oftentimes we hide our pain and suffering and for someone with PTSD the isolation of COVID compounded the feeling that one needed to keep secret any personal exacerbations of stress, anxiety and sorrow. At the center of this body of work is a small sculpture comprised of stacked protuberant spheres, precariously arranged into a tower. The ceramic spheres appear weightless, each layer teetering over the other, threatening to fall, yet gently supporting each other’s balance, which Lauren sees as a metaphor for struggling through life, surviving and dealing with pain and grief.

Lauren is a ceramic artist who was born in Cape Town and with her family immigrated to Melbourne when she was young. Lauren completed degrees in Law and Arts, majoring in English Literature, before pursuing her interest in art. She studied Fine Art Gold & Silversmithing at RMIT and after graduating began her art practice as a contemporary jeweller and object maker and then began to focus primarily on ceramics.

Lauren’s work has been exhibited throughout Australia and internationally, having her first solo exhibition at Michael Reid Clay Sydney in 2020. She has been a finalist in amongst others, the Itami International Craft Exhibition and the Itami International Jewellery Award Exhibition in Japan, the Fishers Ghost Art Award 2021, Muswellbrook Art Prize 2021 and the Klytie Pate Ceramics Award and Exhibition 2020. She has been awarded Australia Council for the Arts grants and her work has been acquired by private collectors, RMIT University and the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery.