In a new series of works titled, "Ghosts from the Sea", Ikuko Iwamoto
explores environmental concerns. Growing up near the seaside in Japan,
on a diet of mainly pescatarian food, these sculptures arose from
Ikuko’s serious concerns about the damage caused by high sea bottom
trawling which Japanese experts are calling for an end to, due to
irreparable damage to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems.

Ikuko
comments,"These fish are the ghosts of the sea representing those whose
homes have been destroyed by fishing practices such as bottom trawling,
those who have been captured for nothing because they were not the type
for the market and those which have been killed by plastic waste."

Ikuko's
skill and imagination have come together in this poignant work that
harks back to her roots in Japan where she trained under ceramic master
Asuka Tsuboi, one of the pioneering women potters to emerge in Japan in
the 1970s, before coming to London encouraged by Tsuboi to study at
Camberwell and the RCA. This work is a culmination of everything we love
about Ikuko’s work. She creates work with sensitivity, wit, patience,
incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail.