Dream's Navel
B. Ingrid Olson
2026
Glazed porcelain, epoxy, celluloid, waxed thread, hair
Circa 8 x 8 x 4 cm
Edition of 16 copies, all unique, numbered and stamp-signed by the artist, plus 1 artist’s proof
Only a few copies left
Dream's Navel consists of a series of palm-sized ceramic sculptures. Each piece takes shape around chambers, tubes, and hollows, before being covered with a thick, expansive glaze that conceals most of these openings. Like a garment or a skin, the glaze simultaneously reveals and obscures the underlying structure of these enigmatic anatomical fragments. From the few cavities that remain visible emerge vintage celluloid buttons, forming small knots that evoke navels or viscera, while waxed string and locks of hair recall sutures, umbilical cords, or protective materials used to wrap and support these organs. These intimate objects thus oscillate between containment and flow, concealment and exposure, suggesting bodies that are at once vulnerable, repaired, and in a state of perpetual transformation.
The title refers to Sigmund Freud's notion of the "dream's navel"—that irreducible point within every dream where interpretation reaches its limit and gives way into the unknown. For Freud, this "navel" is both a knot of interwoven threads and a passage toward what remains inaccessible: a place where meanings branch endlessly without ever being fully grasped. More than a multiplied representation of the body, Dream's Navel unfolds as a series of organic and symbolic condensations, in which the flows of desire, memory, and matter are continually negotiated through ever-renewed forms.
B. Ingrid Olson's exhibition took place at Keijiban from June 15 to July 31, and at Yonkai from July 18 to 31, 2026.