Born in Ecuador, Ananda Aragundi-Hanus took up ceramics as a self-taught artist, before devoting herself entirely to it shortly after arriving in France in 2002. She trained at the Institut de Céramique Française de Sèvres. She then embarked on a long period of research into form and glazes, which she enriched with the help of artists such as Gustavo Perez, Shozo Michikawa and Akira Satake. Today, her work has won awards in international contemporary ceramics competitions, and is exhibited in galleries and biennales in France and abroad.
Ananda Aragundi-Hanus' research explores two fields of experimentation: her containers sometimes evoke the power of telluric forces, sometimes the marine world. Her sculptures express a more conceptual idea, encouraging a dialogue between the viewer and his or her imagination. The work begins with sketches, which she then seeks to translate into clay with a spontaneous gesture. Her twisted works display a precarious fragility, troubled by tears and deep wounds, and glazes are used to underline this tumult. Clay can also speak for itself and exclude glaze and decoration, when form is enough to create these tragic effects of volume and light.