I can’t see clear through the smoke.
This work series is about the impacts on individuals who were influenced by the collective values in China; it is also about the hesitation between modern world and revival of my cultural identity.
My memories are inextricably linked to my experience growing up as an only child in China. In recent decades, the structure of the Chinese family has been transformed by the government’s One-child Policy. Urbanization and industrialization have further complicated the social shifts that have resulted in rapid and unbalanced transformation. In these works, enamel, a traditional art medium, fired on several cold connected metal forms, built by the invisible computer-aided design process. The split form of the work series represents the discontinuous cultural traditions and the weak family system. The re-connections show the struggling of catching up the cultural identities. However, the gap between traditional and contemporary values are proving hard to bridge.
In this series, I use smoke as an intangible or dynamic form to be a part of the form of jewellery instead of a solid material. These jewellery pieces are also incense burner. Burn incense when wearing, smoke will surround the work and create a one-of-kind but blurry atmosphere. Traditional Chinese use “an incense will never put out” to describe the prosperous family inheritance. On the one hand, the incense is a significant symbol in the traditional Chinese family system. On the other hand, the smoke could disappear by a breeze. The outcome of these enamelled forms reminds the terracotta warrior, a well-known symbol of collectivism, which the western societies always criticized on. I hope the viewers who see the works to rethink about some values that we persistent about, such as culture, freedom, traditions, country and family.
This work series is about the impacts on individuals who were influenced by the collective values in China; it is also about the hesitation between modern world and revival of my cultural identity.
My memories are inextricably linked to my experience growing up as an only child in China. In recent decades, the structure of the Chinese family has been transformed by the government’s One-child Policy. Urbanization and industrialization have further complicated the social shifts that have resulted in rapid and unbalanced transformation. In these works, enamel, a traditional art medium, fired on several cold connected metal forms, built by the invisible computer-aided design process. The split form of the work series represents the discontinuous cultural traditions and the weak family system. The re-connections show the struggling of catching up the cultural identities. However, the gap between traditional and contemporary values are proving hard to bridge.
In this series, I use smoke as an intangible or dynamic form to be a part of the form of jewellery instead of a solid material. These jewellery pieces are also incense burner. Burn incense when wearing, smoke will surround the work and create a one-of-kind but blurry atmosphere. Traditional Chinese use “an incense will never put out” to describe the prosperous family inheritance. On the one hand, the incense is a significant symbol in the traditional Chinese family system. On the other hand, the smoke could disappear by a breeze. The outcome of these enamelled forms reminds the terracotta warrior, a well-known symbol of collectivism, which the western societies always criticized on. I hope the viewers who see the works to rethink about some values that we persistent about, such as culture, freedom, traditions, country and family.
