Lindsey Mendick works predominantly with clay, a material associated with both function and the decorative. Her handbuilt objects, subvert any lofty historic associations of ceramics to create skilled monuments to ‘low culture’ particularly in reference to the contemporary female experience. Her vessels are sometimes stand-ins for the female body and often culminate in elaborate installations or immersive environments. Mendick’s autobiographical work offers a form of catharsis; she weaves together narratives that combine elements of her personal life and domestic surroundings with pop cultural imagery and references from high art and Greek mythology in ways that can feel unsettling. Mendick, who lives with anxiety and depression, is also interested in how horror and humour frequently go side by side. The theatrical sets of horror films often inspire the ceramic motifs that she works onto household objects, such as vases, or that she develops as discrete objects in domestic settings such as kitchens. Her work challenges the male gaze, promoting an unapologetic, humorous and at times provocative femininity. For Mendick, the forms and scale of ceramics reference the domestic and the personal. As a material it is both vulnerable and resilient – like the body.
