This recent body of work, commissioned by Messums and made specially for the exhibition Beyond the Vessel: Myths, Legends and Fables in Contemporary Ceramics around Europe at the newly established art centre Mesher in Istanbul, focussed more specifically on a theme that has grown from an interest in the human animal hybrid. Referencing photos by photographers, Axel Hoedt and Charles Fréger, of the costumes and participants in long established and recently revised folk rituals throughout Europe, this group makes a quiet plea towards an understanding of otherness and a need for a community through European identity. Many of these rituals are found across the continent and feature various old traditions that involve masking and dressing up as animal characters, in a bid to respect and understand the challenges of nature. The elaborate and often bizarre costumes, which are made by local people, point to a level of creativity that is universal within communities across the globe.