Tecla Tofano: This Body of Mine

The first monograph on Tecla Tofano, spotlighting her transition to handmade ceramics

Venezuelan ceramicist Tecla Tofano (1927–95) is most recognized for her pottery, but she was also a draftswoman, metalsmith and writer. From 1964 to 1978, Tofano shifted from crafting objects on a traditional potter’s wheel to hand-sculpting glazed ceramics of body parts, books, totemic figures and domestic items, often exploring issues of maternity, sexism and socioeconomics. Toward the end of the 1970s, Tofano felt that she had exhausted the possibilities of clay as a medium. She stopped producing ceramics to refocus her energy and activist rhetoric on writing and drawing.

Tofano wrote critical articles on society and culture for the newspaper El Nacional beginning in the 1960s and authored several books. This monograph, the first ever dedicated to the artist, highlights Tofano’s ceramics and drawings from the 1960s and 1970s. It features a selection of ceramics from this transformative phase that reflect her distinct, dissident voice. The book also includes a curatorial essay by Rangel, a detailed chronology by Farías and translations of Tofano’s poetry and writing by Lucía Hinojosa Gaxiola.