THE TACTILITY OF NOSTALGIA: Exploring the healing power of maternal energy by using the narrative expression of contemporary jewellery.
My MFA project explores the intimacy that exists between my mother and I, and the healing that comes from maternal energy by using jewellery. The objects in my life that contain childhood memories are recreated by hand using discarded horsehair, enamel metalwork, mixed materials and sewing to trace the tactile memories of touching my mother’s hair during my childhood. I use the language of jewellery to symbolically transform and combine childhood trauma and fond memories, trying to tell the process of self-healing and growth as a woman.
Born in 1996, in Chongqing, China and now residing in Melbourne, Yujun Jiang has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts at RMIT University, majoring in gold and silver smithing. Recent exhibitions include SNAG Metalsmith (juried student exhibition, USA 2023); Rendering: Jewellery and Objects (Melbourne, 2022) and Through Time and Space (Melbourne, 2021). She is fascinated by combining enamel with various materials to explore themes of nostalgia and maternal energy.
Her work received the 2019 Excellence Award in International Cultural Innovation and the Zhou Liu Fu Jewellery Design, and the 2018 Excellent Graduation Work of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. She also completed an Art Residency in MODA Art Space and exhibited at Mei Bo Art Museum Shanghai, China in 2020.
instagram: @jun_jewellery