The terracotta horses of south India: Research and fieldwork in sculpture

Abstract

In March and April 2019, João Rolaça travelled to investigate the terracotta horses of South India. The main objective of this visit was to observe the construction processes of these great ceramic sculptures, since they are an ancestral practice, without many parallels in other geographies or cultures and, therefore, of great importance for his PhD research in Sculpture, entitled The Shape of Fire - Large Scale Ceramic Sculpture and its Firing Processes. In this article, the cultural, spiritual and iconographic context is combined with the technological dimension of production of the great terracotta horses offered to the god Ayyanar, in his open-air temples.

Indian craftsman model and fire with endogenous materials and resources, in their own aesthetic with local variations and the involvement of the community in the creation of large-format sculptures. These inhabit and accumulate in large numbers in unique places, where the landscape, the terracotta sculptures and time inform the mythology, devotion and life of the Tamil people. The research experience in Sculpture is analyzed based on the results achieved and on its programmatic specificity.