Crafting in Dialogue with the Material Environment

AbstractThe chapter discusses craft making as an embodied practice that enables a profound (re)consideration of the relationship between the human and non-human realms. The core idea is the relationship between a craftsperson and the material world, especially how the maker is able to identify the types of matter that are productive for creative practice. The chapter introduces the author’s recent creative practice in which soil matter is gathered from the natural environment, processed further in the studio context, and then used as a part of ceramics making. The presented case is related to the wider discourse in which humans are understood as playing a critical role in planetary wellbeing and survival. The chapter proposes that craft making can act as a sensitizer that helps us in realizing and appreciating non-human actants around us. Crafting can also help in comprehending the importance of the caring actions we need to take and maintain towards the non-human world. In the chapter, craft is understood as a philosophical space that enables thinking through the ethical and ecological concerns related to the environment by providing an opportunity to practise and nourish a dialogical relationship with a specific environment.