Matthew Raw’s ‘Clad’ opens at the Ragged School Museum

For 10 days only (4—14 May), Matthew is displaying eight specially created artworks in clay, terracotta and earthenware tiles. Each piece is a response to the concept of the urban grid – the framework of streets, buildings, paving stones and indeed tiles, that shapes the cities around us – and the ways in which those grids are transformed by the movement of people over time. The eight works vary in scale and form. ‘Individual Motives’, is composed of large, hand-rolled tiles featuring details of etchings found in Dr Barnado’s Night & Day journal, published at the time he founded the Ragged School. Another piece, ‘Panel Discussion’ comprises four three-dimensional tiles inspired by a 15th-century Italian shrine and featuring a quote from Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew in handformed clay lettering. ‘Fearful Symmetry’ directly addresses the issue of who creates urban grids, while ‘Top Table’ explores the connections between empire and exploitation.

If you want to know more about the Ragged School museum (which you definitely should) you can read our interview with director Erica Davies, who has championed Matthew’s work and brings a dynamic and powerful emotional force to the art of curation.