Kiln Quest is a series of photographs I made during my residency at Arquetopia in Puebla Mexico. I wanted to learn more about Talavera pottery, the ceramic technique unique to Puebla. I studied abroad in Spain, and spent a week in Seville enraptured with the tiles’ beautiy and interested in their versality as a carrier, constructor, and cultural marker. When I learned about the tiles in Mexico, I became interested in their colonial history and integration within historical and contemporary Mexican communities.
I took photographs of where I found the tiles in the city: they lined the walls of cathedrals, were used as street signs, sparsely placed on store floors, and widely sold in tourist shops. Seeing Puebla through Talavera gave me an entry point to learn about class, urban design, religion, and colonialism in the city.
