ESRA SAKIR

Workshops 

Esra Sakir is a ceramic artist whose practice is rooted in clay as both material and memory. Working between contemporary sculpture, ancestral symbolism, and participatory processes, her work explores how bodies, land, and belief systems are shaped—and reshaped—across time and geography.

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Drawing inspiration from ancient civilizations of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, and the Indus Valley, Sakir engages with archetypal figures such as mother goddesses, hybrid beings, and protective deities. These forms, often merging human, animal, and plant elements, function not as nostalgic references but as living frameworks through which power, care, fertility, and resistance are reimagined. By revisiting these ancestral symbols, she challenges patriarchal readings of the past and reclaims the female and non-binary body as a site of strength, complexity, and agency.

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Clay is central to Sakir’s methodology—not only as a sculptural medium, but as a collaborator. She frequently works with wild and locally sourced clay, emphasizing the relationship between soil, ecology, and cultural memory. This material approach extends into her workshops and community-based projects, where collective making becomes a way to reconnect people to land, history, and each other. Through handbuilding, firing, and shared storytelling, her practice bridges artistic research with social engagement.

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Sakir’s work moves between studio practice, exhibitions, film, and participatory workshops, creating a dialogue between ancient knowledge systems and contemporary questions of identity, belonging, and sustainability. Her sculptures are not static objects, but vessels—carrying stories of continuity, transformation, and the enduring presence of the feminine as a force that nurtures, protects, and resists.