'Strange Fits of Passion' - Narrational ecologies "In the House of Ephra and Bahmanduch"

This article discusses the ceramic art installation In the House of Ephra and Bahmanduch, a triptych of spaces cloistering three works: Sub Rosa, Lilith by the Red Sea Carpet and Flock. Together, these spaces form an interdisciplinary exploration into connections between Aramaic incantation bowls, contemporary ceramic art practice and critical theory. Aramaic incantation bowls are clay vessels covered with magic spell texts from Late Antique Iraq, whose purpose is to protect the home and its occupants from demons. Over the course of time, In the House of Ephra and Bahmanduch has evolved into a series of immersive room- scapes manifesting the imagined psycho-space of the Babylonian homes in which magic bowl praxis was evident. Collectively, the installation explores the idea that the bowl texts buried in the floor and spoken into the air permeate the space and become embodied within the building’s fabric. The work broadens out heritages of meaning carried by clay as an art medium, revealing wider narrational landscapes implicit in the bowl texts and praxis.