Witness Clay // Clay as Witness

PRESENTATION 13.06.2025 19:30
WITH Amara Abdal Figueroa in conversation with Maïa Beyrouti
LANGUAGE The event takes place in Spanish, English, Arabic, and all languages present
FREE ENTRY Donations welcome
ACCESS SAVVY is accessible by wheelchair
Join us for a presentation and workshop alongside our resident artist Amara Abdal Figueroa in conversation with Franco-Palestinian artist Maïa Beyrouti to share a moment and ask ourselves questions around the idea of clay as witness,* and explore how we witness clay. What does this act of witnessing mean? What is being witnessed? Where are the subjective tendencies of material? Of the human? This is not an act of discovery, not a drive towards conservation, but towards a shared process of listening with our hands.
Together with Jorge Vega Matos and Maïa Beyrouthi, Amara Abdal Figueroa travelled to an abandoned clay mine in Brandenburg and collected various raw materials that had fallen from a stratified clay cliff. The layers of colors revealed a reading of the material through time, and in this workshop the artist invites you to explore the notions of time and witness, in direct contact with these collected materials.
In essence, clay is formed from the weathering of rock. It is a particle that can take thousands or millions of years to form, which is in essence the time it takes for the rock to decay – to transform. As humans, we usually don’t perceive rocks as anything more than a hard, inanimate object – we are not granted the time to witness its transformation. Our time on this earth is insignificant compared to the forming of clay. We are ladybugs passing through a sliver in time, privileged in our interactions with this ancient matter. What has the clay witnessed? And when we have the audacity to give it form anew, what does it call for us to create?
Amara works with clay as a collaborating entity – a negotiating entity. Clay has its own material desires. It might reject us, it might dry too slowly, too fast. It demands a dialogue, a constant adaptation to its needs and demands. It demands of us that if we seek to wield it, to mold it, we must first and foremost listen to it.
Lift the Siege on Gaza
La tierra misma no reconoce las fronteras
Las aguas nos conectan 1000 boats every day
Son aguas internacionales
Arde mi corazón Ese llamar telúrico
Al ruido del tambor Y una vena de barro que late
Las Naciones Oceánicas Inland Nations
Navegar Entre Mares Between Lands
Arcilla y aserrín Un filtro cerámico
Que atrapa los patógenos
Entre las grietas Tensión superficial
Se fue la marina de Vieques Que se vaya la marina de todas las marinas
De Guam, de Samoa Americana, de las Islas Marianas,
Y de las Islas Vírgenes de los Estados Desunidos
Que nos atrevemos, desde todos los países con bases militares
Con tierras contaminadas por ente ajena Que se vayan
Fuera de Jácana y de Todas las Aguas
El Cuerpo de Ingenieros de los Estados Desunidos
Río Baramaya Libre Serás Jácana, No estás olvidada
Que se derrita i.c.e.
La voluntad del material Piedra, Grava, Arena, Limo, Arcilla
El legado del particulado La meteorización La erosión
The legacy of war on land The way toxins lodge into clay particles
Bioremediation End occupation End genocide which is also ecocide
Reza por mi cuando estoy en vida y no cuando estoy muerta
Reza por mi cuando estoy en vida y no cuando estoy muerta
Reza por mi para que me quede en mi tierra
Reza por mi, reza por ti
Para que nos quedemos en nuestra tierraaa
De qué tierraa––soy––tierraaaaa
Te tengo un consuelo, la diáspora es un relevo
Guía para sanar la cuerpa--tierra Guide to heal the landbody
Amasar + Masajear To wedge + To massage
= Amasajear = To massagewedge (or wedgemassage)
Sanar la cuerpa--agua Atrapar el sedimento en objeto cerámico
Del deslizamiento al mar Del río al mar
Desde Borikén a Falasteen
Gracias tierra, por tu abundancia y tu generosidad
Agua limpia para todxs lxs seres
End Occupation Everywhere
The title for this presentation was developed in conversation with Maria Cano.
Amara Abdal Figueroa was born in Borikén (Puerto Rico) and lives between Kuwait and Borikén. Amara proposes a hyper-local ceramic practice as a tool for land and water conservation by foraging materials from sites that require landslide mitigation.Through studying clay content for ceramic viability, her research provides an alternative for imported materials and the development of a ceramic pour over water filter, Tierrafiltra.




PHOTOS Cracks by Amara Abdal Figueroa // Hands by Merari Torres Amaro
Funding This project is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
