Currently in residence at Sarabande, Zoya Smirnova is a ceramic sculptor exploring vulnerability, resilience, and emotional repair through intimate stoneware and porcelain forms that hover between body and psyche. We dropped into Zoya Smirnova’s studio in Haggerston to talk about the residency, her distinctive visual language, and the tender yet resilient world she’s building in clay.

To start with, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your practice?

My name is Zora and I am an artist in residence at Sarabande. My practice is sculpting and ceramics and its around mixture of my personal memories, lived experiences and all the things that inspire me.

Your work has such a strong, distinctive language. How would you describe the visual world you’ve created?

Combined human form with organic elements such. Petals and thorns to create my unique visual language and talk about different states of human psyche and different emotional states.

We love how you reference a single rose from your neighbour’s garden in this piece. Can you tell us more about its starting point?

This piece was a picture of the rose I took in my neighbor's garden. I was drawing to this k like pattern of the petals you can see from the mood board.

What other influences feed into your sculptures?

I'm drawn to all things, from ancient Egyptian forms to historical armor, and the topic of my work is what it is to be a human being. And I explore and the themes of Virginia resilience, and especially the times when a person going through the healing process from physical or psychological trauma.

When visitors step into Zoya’s studio, they quickly realise they're looking at more than just ceramic sculptures. The work feels like an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human... a pretty big topic. Through petals and thorns, ancient references and personal memory, she gives form to the complicated process of being alive, healing, and becoming. Her pieces remind us that vulnerability and strength are never far apart, often wrapped around each other in the same delicate, resilient form.

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