The Paraguayan city of Itá is known for its ceramics: a lively trade in black pottery has long been important to the area’s economy. The Guaraní sculptor Julia Isídrez was born in Itá and still lives there, and over the years has created a kind of amphibious menagerie: her ceramics often resemble familiar creatures, such as puffer fish, axolotls and conches, as well as otherworldly beasts that seem more friendly than fearsome. Usually black but occasionally cream-coloured, Isídrez’s sculptures celebrate physical diversity and put a fanciful twist on craft techniques that stretch back generations: Isídrez learned pottery from her mother, Juana Marta Rodas, who learned it from her mother, who learned it from hers; for several decades Isídrez and Rodas exhibited their work together, in Paraguay and abroad. More recently Isídrez presented a range of sculptures, from miniatures to metre-high works, at the 2024 Venice Biennale.