Crafting counter-hegemony: using porcelain to interrogate ideological whiteness as anti-racist praxis

I use porcelain to ponder, problematise and pervert ideological whiteness. This interdisciplinary, practice-based PhD responds to the colonial legacy and ongoing crisis of white supremacy. It asks whether porcelain – so physically white and so historically and symbolically laden with preciousness, power and prestige – can be reimagined as a tool of radical anti-racism. Through a mixed-methods approach, including object-making and participatory workshops, I explore how to reveal and resist the racism of whiteness. The practical element – comprising sculptures, vessels, videos and events – is guided by the written thesis, which is structured across four chapters. Chapter One establishes the artistic and theoretical context, identifying the scarcity of creative, critical engagement with whiteness as dissent. Chapter Two details my interdisciplinary methodology, which I frame as a form of ‘wake work’, drawing on Christina Sharpe’s call to confront the afterlives of slavery and the continuing operations of whiteness (Sharpe, 2016, p. 13). Chapter Three clarifies my approach to whiteness and anti-racism, focusing on the material and metaphorical qualities of porcelain. Chapter Four traces the cultural history of porcelain in Europe and analyses how I rewrite its language to facilitate anti-racist work in participatory contexts. These workshops centre listening, witnessing and holding space for plural experiences and perspectives. I demonstrate that porcelain, renowned for being temperamental and difficult to work with – much like whiteness itself – can both expose and challenge the colonial roots of racial othering. Exploiting its seductive blue-and-white aesthetic to prompt critical conversations around whiteness as part of anti-racist praxis marks an innovative contribution to contemporary ceramic practice. This work centres communion and futurity – craft and clay in pursuit of social justice and the collective imagining of a world beyond white supremacy.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Ph.D.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

PhD thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Westminster

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Burgher, V.

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Peters, T.
• Pitcher, B.
• Kempadoo, R.

Identifier

oai:westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk:x76vz

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk:x76vz