Onaka Ga Suita (Japanese for " Hungry" "Empty Stomach "Empty Inside" - Sally Beeston
Onaka Ga Suita (Japanese for " Hungry" "Empty Stomach "Empty Inside" - Sally Beeston
by Sally Beeston£1,650.00
This kiln-carved clear glass box explores infertility through symbolic exterior imagery, while inside hand-cut glass oak leaves, painted with words, express personal emotions and themes of loss, longing, and reflection.
I fell in love with the ephemeral qualities of glass 40 years ago when studying Architectural Stained Glass at Swansea College of Art. I was lucky on leaving to work in studios in Japan and Australia for a few years before returning to the UK to teach Art & Design in Secondary Education. I continued to dabble in glass and the creative processes involved in the manufacture of both functional and art pieces has led me to develop fused glass collections and one-off stained-glass pieces. I’m drawn to pattern, colour, texture and the natural world. Now working full time in glass, I work to commission and teach a range of glass disciplines. More recently I have begun developing a body of work informed by personal life events.
The piece reflects on the emotional and physical emptiness associated with infertility, using the Japanese phrase “Onaka Ga Suita” as a central metaphor. Through symbolic imagery—a hollow box, a stunted family tree shaped like the half womb I was born with, a baby enclosed in a drifting acorn, and fallen leaves—it conveys themes of longing, lost legacy, and unfulfilled hopes of motherhood and grandmotherhood.