This ceramic wall hanging sits gently within Languages of Surfaces as a meditation on how meaning is carried through material.
At its centre, the painted eye becomes a quiet focal point, a symbol of awareness, intuition, and inner seeing. It does not dominate the work, but listens. Formed within a petal-like ceramic surface, the eye suggests that vision itself is layered: emotional, physical, remembered. The surface around it bears the marks of the hand, soft blushes and subtle irregularities that speak of touch and time rather than perfection.
As the form descends, the work transforms into a botanical structure, leaves glazed in earthy greens, pale whites, and mineral tones. These elements feel grown rather than constructed, reinforcing one of the core ideas of Languages of Surfaces: that materials hold memory, and that surfaces are shaped through process, repetition, and care. Delicate ceramic tendrils and handwritten text wrap the stem, allowing language to become texture, not something to be read literally, but something felt, absorbed, and sensed.
Here, the surface is not decoration; it is narrative. The piece asks the same questions that run throughout the exhibition: Can clay speak? Can text become touch? Can an object look back at us? By merging ceramics, painting, and written mark, this work dissolves the boundaries between mediums, allowing them to coexist as one visual language.
In Languages of Surfaces, this wall hanging becomes both offering and witness, a quiet reminder that what we see on the surface is only the beginning.
Made and exhibited with support from RADF, Cairns Council and Queensland Government
Please phone 0419 956 309 to arrange packing or delivery after purchase. Especially for tourists who would like to buy a piece of art to celebrate their visit to Cairns.
Arrives with a certificate of authenticity.
Luisa Manea is an award-winning artist.