We Have Agency
Cannupa Hanska Luger, 2016
ceramic, fiber, steel - dimensions vary

The series portrays a collection of human figures, some freestanding and some suspended in mid-air, but each bound with a nylon rope keeping them static. The ceramic and steel figures suspended from a wall represent the fragility and resilience of humanity, while presenting the reality that severing these bonds is often met with a fall. The anticipation of the fall that each of these pieces display may cause discomfort upon recognition but, as Luger himself puts it, “you will fall, but you’ll be free.”

Additional aesthetic choices that Luger made with this work further support the narrative of cutting the bond, beginning with the shape. The geodesic ceramic surface represents the multifaceted aspect of being human, our many angles and beliefs that makes us who we are, yet it’s those sides of ourselves that tend to serve as the very rope that ties us down. The choice of color was something new for Luger, who primarily uses lighter shades of color in his work, describing the black-on-black method as “a subversive choice, representing our dependency, or our bond, to oil.”