The Kiln Gods are Trans
A trans perspective on the practice of ceramics
Pottery is inherently a transformative process. You take a lump of clay and transform it into a work of art, changing the soft malleable clay into a hard object that will maintain its form for potentially centuries to come. The making process of ceramic art works incredibly well as a metaphor for the transgender experience. Moreover, a trans lens is a framework that can be used to understand the widespread phenomenon of potters and pottery technicians referring to ‘the kiln gods’ when pots go through their most intense transformation; that which occurs within the kiln.
Pots are like bodies. This is a very common and widely accepted truism within ceramics. People have always related to ceramic objects as reflections of human bodies, and used clay as a metaphor for life. One only has to look at the use of clay in various creation myths to see how the shaping of clay is a powerful tool in talking about the human condition. The shaping of clay as a metaphor for the shaping of the body is as old as pottery itself.
What is more trans than shaping a body? Than changing a body’s shape and appearance to one’s will? As a trans person facing hostile systems that gate-keep access to transition-related healthcare, the lack of barriers in pottery is liberating.
When you work with clay, you have the power to change this body. To change it to your will as long as you respect the clay and the ceramics process. There are limits to what the clay can do, but if you understand it, and use its properties to full effect, amazing things can be achieved.
The proclamation that “it is in the hands of the kiln gods now“ is a very common one among those trusting the kiln to work its magic on their clay creations, and it is worth looking into how we characterise these nebulous kiln gods and why these conceptual deities lend themselves to a trans reading.
Who are the kiln gods? They are the nameless pantheon we envisage to give form to the indistinct and mysterious process that happens in the kiln whilst firing. We lock our precious ceramics into a dark box and trust that the firing will transform our pieces the way we desire. The kiln gods represent the uncertainty and unknowability of the kiln firing process. Ceramics takes faith. Faith that the kiln will fire to temperature. Faith that your piece won’t explode. Faith that the colours of your work will come out to your liking. We can try to control this process all we like, learn all we can about the mechanics of clay, glazes and kiln firings but at the end of the day, we put our work in a locked box and pray. The kiln gods demand respect for the transformation they reside over.
The kiln gods are gods of transition and change. They represent a moment of transformation; the uncertainty of it but also the beauty and power of it. The kiln gods are who you turn to for reassurance that the unknown future will be kind.
Note that potters always talk about the kiln gods, plural, rather than a singular kiln god. The kiln gods are various, they contain multitudes. They are both kind and cruel, fiery and cold, appeasable and indifferent. This plurality may come from the understanding that each potter may have their own effigy to the kiln gods, no two of which are the same, but I would argue it is the fundamental dualistic nature of the kiln firing process that makes the kiln gods a many faced entity. To put it simply, the kiln gods are trans gods.
The fears and unknowns of needing to have faith in a complex process with results you can guide but never guarantee rings very true to trans people and how we relate to transition. To embrace change and transformation, to dare to hope for something better in the future, requires a form of faith. Faith may be a strong word, inadvertently giving in to the mischaracterisation of pro-trans ideology being like religion, but all forms of transformation require trust in the process and acceptance of the unknowability of it. Whether that is trusting in the kiln gods to fire your pottery to your wishes, or trusting your inner desire for transition and all the variables and unknowns that come with it.
After having gone through a tedious, disrespectful, and demeaning experience of getting access to trans healthcare to facilitate my transition, the kiln gods and their foibles are far kinder and more accessible in granting power to those willing to respect them. The kiln gods excel in giving us mere mortal potters access to change bodies the way we desire, as long as we show them respect. Truly, the kiln gods are trans.