Rachid Koraichi: Tears that Taste of the Sea
October Gallery, London

THERE’S a thematic unity to the ceramic vases, paintings and sculptures on show in this Rachid Koraichi exhibition, encapsulated by the apt line from a Shakespeare sonnet: “Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,/For precious friends hid in death’s dateless nigh,” an apt introduction to these meditations on sorrow.

Metaphorically collected in the large, inscribed lachrymatory vessels on display, these mass-produced “tear gatherers” were found in late-Roman period tombs and, no bigger than a little finger, contained the tears of a grieving relative.

Seeing them in museums, Koraichi was astonished by their exquisite craftsmanship and speculated about the lost stories of anguish that once filled them: “If only, somehow, we could analyse the empty vessels to retrieve their forgotten secrets,” he wondered.