Maria Roy Delafeu

"Like an alchemist, I like to transform sediments through fire, creating pieces that unite past, present, and a post-anthropocentric future."

She has been fascinated by ceramics since early in her career, but it was during the 2020 lockdown, while completing her MA in Material Futures at Central Saint Martins (London), that her journey truly began. Maria embarked on what she calls "an archaeological mission" in her London flat's garden.

"I dug a three-meter-deep hole and found local clay. At that moment I became passionate about sourcing local materials and creating sculptures that emerge from the very soil they come from."

This discovery became a turning point. And it's the relationship between material and place that now guides everything she makes.

Earth as narrator

That garden excavation became Hollow Earth, her graduation project exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery as part of "The London Open." She processed the excavated material into decorative vases, ornamented them with found artifacts, and built a Neolithic kiln to fire the pieces. Everything was hyper-localized. When it was done, all the soil returned to the site it was sourced from. Only traces remain, perhaps for some future archaeologist to uncover.

"I have a special connection with Hollow Earth, because it gave me a clear direction. That archaeological process became the foundation of my practice and made me treat earth as a living material that narrates the history, politics, and ecology of its locality."

More than exhibition success, the project established her methodology: immerse in a place, work with what the ground offers, let the material guide the form, and complete the cycle by returning everything to its source.

The ritual of making

Maria's artistic process feels ceremonial: sourcing materials from the land, processing, and firing them. These are all acts of attention, care, and appreciation. She draws inspiration from rare ancient ceramic objects used for rituals, connecting her contemporary practice to craft histories.

"Rituals ground us in the present. They help us find meaning and intention in what we do and reveal our connection to the world."

Many of her forms end up as offerings to the places that made them:

"Soil is where most things come from and where most things return. It is a living matter, where new life and relations emerge."

Her main source of inspiration comes from the geology of her physical surroundings, the materials she finds and how they define her experience.

Ceramics projects

"My work has evolved toward more abstract forms that let materials express themselves," Maria shares.

Her Curb Vases exemplify this approach. She rolled smooth stoneware cylinders through the streets of South Bermondsey, collecting urban debris: smashed glass, metal fragments, organic matter. After firing, each material reacted differently: metals expanded, glass melted, organic matter vanished leaving only silhouettes. It's a beautiful way of seeing the geology of the city, visualizing its rhythms through the very matter it sheds.

But what she defines as her wildest work came during a residency at Entorns for the Rizomes Festival. Collaborating with artist Tom S.B., Maria created kinetic ceramic sculptures inspired by the Catalan folkloric story of the Dona d'Aigua. These installations turn flowing water's energy into whistling sounds.

Salemi residency

Maria arrived in Salemi for a residency that promises to push this place-based methodology further. She plans to immerse herself in the local geology, the life of the town, its people, stories, and myths.

"I want my experience in Salemi to guide my work,"

she says, explaining that she prefers to arrive without fixed expectations, allowing the ground and the community to slowly reveal their stories.

"I'll be exploring fountains and liturgical objects as starting points to create new forms, connected to the place."