About Charles Morrison

Reminding viewers of an ancient past, I use clay to invoke an innate feeling or rather a knowing, that we’ve been here before. Remembering our ancestors, their stories and teachings, preserving their knowledge and wisdom; as well as understanding where we come from in order to know where we stand today, which ultimately allows us to decide where it is we are heading. While also serving as a means of reconnecting with my own lineage, these pieces not only act as reminders of our pasts, but they are simultaneously an effort to reimagine and explore what it means to be a part of the African diaspora. 

What does it mean to come from a people who have been removed from their homeland, their cultures, traditions and self-identity stripped away, and then trying to reassemble and repair those dismembered birthrights? I use clay to explore ways to regain those lost heirlooms and to reinterpret what those traditions and cultures might look like in an effort to bring healing and understanding moving forward. Researching indigenous cultures of the world along with a deep interest in reggae music and the messages embedded in the songs, I’ve cultivated this series of ancestral relics, vessels and totems brought forth today to remind us of yesterday. After all, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots” – Marcus Garvey