Born in France to Franco-Belgian parents, Barbara Ottevaere grew up between two cultures that meet without ever fully blending. This oscillating identity—both a source of richness and strangeness—has long nourished her outlook on the world. Settled in Quebec since the early 2000s, she has anchored her artistic practice there after a path shaped by creative writing and photography. Her work stems from a need to “leave a trace,” to give form to her inner world. For Barbara, clay is both a medium and a language—a living material, receptive to gestures, imprints, and accidents. 

Her process is grounded in experimentation and intuition. Each piece is born through slow time, a succession of states—from shaping to firing—that mark a transition between fragility and permanence. Ottevaere places particular importance on bas-reliefs, forms imbued with a mystical character, found on many monuments and sacred sites. 

Her references draw equally from ancient civilizations and modern art history: Greek vases, anthropomorphic relics of bygone cultures, Delftware, Art Nouveau, or 20th-century painting. Through this hybridity, the artist seeks to create a personal mythology where nature, animals, and humans coexist without hierarchy. Ceramics thus become a poetic means of reflection on our presence in the world and our ability to care for it. — Alicia Lequen

https://wishboneart.com/show/wishbone-gallery-mythologies-silencieuses-barbara-ottevaere