Lily German
Staff details
Lily’s research explores the shared fragilities and tactility of wet clay, ceramic and the voice.
Lily German is an Artist making sculpture, writing and performance that explores the shared fragilities and tactility of wet clay, ceramics, and the human voice.
Lily solidifies passing, palpable, bodily moments and movements into her work; hands push in, fingers break through the clay’s cold flesh. Each mark made remains, becomes preserved in ceramic form.
Pressing at the limits of material, Lily’s sculptures hold within them the anticipation of their own breaking. Like clay, the voice breaks, is vulnerable if not supported. At times guttural and other times soft, whispering, German uses sung and spoken elements to communicate emotion and physicality. Both the untrained and trained voice are used to speak to the human experience of grief and loss.
Academic qualifications
- BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class), Goldsmiths, University of London 2016
Publications and research outputs
Art Object
German, L. 2024. Falling Tide.
German, L. 2022. I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky.
Conference or Workshop Item
German, L. 2018. 'Secondary Annual Conference for Art, Craft and Design'. In: Hampshire Secondary Annual Conference for Art, Craft and Design. Southampton City Art Gallery, United Kingdom 19 November 2018.
Performance
German, L. 2024. The resonant vessel: Grief through clay, voice and the body. In: "Loose Ends", Thames-Side Studios Gallery, 23 February 2024.
German, L. 2019. Was it for this the clay grew tall?. In: "Was it for this the clay grew tall?", Platform Southwark, United Kingdom, 7 February 2019.
German, L. 2018. Gentle Bodies. In: "Gentle Bodies", APT Gallery, United Kingdom, 6 May 2018.
Show/Exhibition
German, L; Brothers, Abigail; Clague, Joshua; Dung Clerget, Hoa; Gileva, Elena; Porter, Laura; Proudfoot, Paloma; Simpson, Alex; Stevenson, Holly and Toma, Melania. 2024. Loose Ends, Group exhibition at Thames-Side Studios Gallery. In: "Loose Ends", Thames-Side Studios Gallery, United Kingdom, 24 February – 10 March 2024.
German, L; Hartley, A and Sochan, S. 2021. We Lifted the Earth. In: "We lifted the earth", Gerald Moore Gallery, United Kingdom, 8 October - 11 December 2021.
German, L; Hartley, A and Sochan, S. 2020. Losing Touch. In: "Losing Touch", Gerald Moore Gallery, United Kingdom, 14 November 2020 - 30 January 2021.