A little porcelain for the heart

Tania Babb’s Minis and Dancers porcelain sculptures are small figurations of curvy women in their utmost freedom, with their wavy hair flying in an imagined gust of wind.

There is intentionality behind their expressions, whose faces can be caught looking above or around themselves as you pull them closer to yourself; it is as if they have received and wholly embrace their way of life.

The Dancers are in different-coloured strapless sundresses, often dancing with their hands reaching for the skies. You can almost imagine the tunes that take their body to such sprightly poses.

The longer I keep looking at their gestures, the more Mango Groove’s instrumentals fill the room as their lead vocalist Claire Johnston sings their iconic Special Star song. This watchful experience does not simply remain at the surface of the Dancers’ porcelain form but can take us to deeper symbolism.

The art of dance is known to tell stories about people’s emotions, existential pride, and cultural history. Many cultures have ascribed imagery of the purposeful motions of their ancestors or people to sequences of communication with or connection to entities greater than themselves.

While dancing does bring about a sense of communal togetherness, it is also an act of self-reclamation. In the interstice of the meaningful occasions people engage in dance or watch others dance, there lies the art of letting things go and being carefree.

“The Dancers are an expression of exuberance, the joy of moving your body to music. They are brightly coloured pops of celebrating being alive,” Babb said.

A glaring characteristic of the Minis is their nakedness. The figures, most of which are of the female form, appear sitting on rhinos or whales, straddling elephants, holding a cat or dog, and standing alongside a second figuration as if the two are posing for a picture, or appear as a mermaid or an angel figure.

Babb says, “Adam and Eve, Adam and Steve, Madam and Eve, Mother and Child, Lady and Cat, Lady and Dog. These relationships are all represented in the range. Relationships that are very important to us, but ethereal, are represented in a solid piece of porcelain.”

Minimal scrutiny from the viewer can win the Minis wonder or garner some extent of judgement. The latter, in this coin toss of responses, perhaps finds its roots in the ideologies surrounding original sin insofar as negative distortions of the human natural form.

In our diverse perspectives, we have collectively fallen within the disparaging narratives of nudity, constantly rendered timorous about our own flesh and troubled by the objectification of our bodies.

On the other hand, they usher the viewer to a sense of admiration because they are a reminder of the beauty and purity that is the naked form, as it exists outside societal contentions, body politics, and gaze theory.

A Mini echoes necessary connectedness when it has shared its space with another presence. The relationships that Babb mirrors through the statues are the pillars of wellness, reflecting the innate desire to belong and grow with other people. They are foregrounded, through their bareness, by the vulnerability and intimacy that makes these different relationships significant to begin with.

Babb shares, “The miniature porcelain sculptures first emerged 25 years ago. I was newly pregnant and anticipated that I would not be able to handle the bigger pieces I made as my belly expanded. So, I made smaller pieces which have proven to be my best sellers, with collectors all over the world.”

Born in Zimbabwe, raised in Mozambique, and now based in SA’s Cape Town, Babb’s ceramic practice starts at D.H. Lawrence’s “spirit of place”, which postulates that our homelands permeate through us and influence our oeuvres into the world.

This idea is further demonstrated in the fact that the Minis and Dancers are mounted on blocks made from Zimbabwe Black Granite, which can be viewed as a representation of her life journey on southern African soil.

In her inclination to tell stories about the wonders of the human experience, Babb has brought to life works such as the Deconstructed Delft Dogs — some of which are also in the Museum of Dogs, in Cape Town; the Imagine Colours that Drink Light colourful ceramic portraiture that formed part of the Rust en Vrede Gallery’s Cube series of exhibitions in 2022; the Listening and Deep in Conversation busts; more diverse ranges that speak to “the vulnerability of human flesh and the human condition”; as well as custom pieces where she meets the directives of a buyer with the spirit of her artistic flair. They are all crafted without the use of moulds or any assistance.

Babb’s works have also won awards such as the Purchasers Award in the 2002 Orton Cone Box Show, Kansas, US, which is an initiative that celebrates miniature ceramic artistry from around the globe.

The long history of the Minis and Dancers, among the other creations, demonstrates their timelessness as art pieces. They exemplify how enduring our connections with ourselves, others, and the natural world are. Their small size reveals the delicacy of our intricate humanness, and how it should be guarded and memorialised. Babb says, “They cross the gift/art genre affordably. I find many people buy them to commemorate events or relationships in their lives.” 

Babb’s works are showcased at the Cape Gallery, as part of the See Yourself There — Summertime in the Cape group exhibition, which runs until January 11 2025.

She also updates her patrons and ceramic community on her latest works on Instagram. Her works can be shopped at taniababb.co.za and monkeyapple.art