When Phoebe Korda looks at a mythological figure, she sees motherhood. When she looks at the Golem, she sees the void within history where motherhood was never staged.
The Golem Rises is an exhibition centering on Korda’s ceramic works. This mud creature of Jewish mythology—the moment where the protector turns into a threat—merges here with domestic dimensions. The ceramic frieze spanning the gallery space, two ceramic lamps in the form of powerful maternal figures… these have their domestic scale intentionally chosen.
Korda reframes motherhood as a radical site of power, imagination, and survival. What is articulated through the Golem myth is this: creation has historically been attributed to men. Yet the most primal form of creation—producing another body out of a body—has always been neglected, trivialized, and confined to the home. These domestic-scaled ceramics make that prison visible.
The Art Newspaper highlighted this exhibition as one of the most remarkable shows of London Gallery Weekend 2026. Critics note: “Korda celebrates motherhood as a radical and political site of being—while simultaneously acknowledging the pressure to shrink and domesticate the self.”
It is made of mud. But it is so familiar.
Exhibition Details:
- Artist: Phoebe Korda
- Exhibition Title: The Golem Rises
- Accolades: Highlighted by The Art Newspaper for London Gallery Weekend 2026
- Medium: Ceramics (friezes, figurative lamps)
