Becoming a Shell
My Master’s project is a ceramic sculpture series that explores the fluid and uncertain nature of identity shaped by cross-cultural experience. Moving from China to Australia unsettled my sense of belonging and made me aware of the subtle conflicts and tensions between individual desire and collective cultural expectations. Inspired by the traditional Chinese dragon, I hand-sew its form with wool, then dip it in clay slip and fire it so the wool burns away, leaving fragile ceramic shells that preserve the memory of softness. Through this transformation, cultural and emotional experiences become tangible, reflecting how identity continually adapts and reshapes itself between belonging and conflict.
In my process, I repeatedly knot and unknot red threads, transforming them into ceramic knots that hang in space. I project this repetitive action onto the ceramic sculptures, allowing viewers to witness the looping gestures and emotions — a metaphor for emotional entanglement and repetition.
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