Samsara:Pillar ceramics 2023 10*10*80.5cm

Samsara:Vat ceramics 2023 70 *50 *22cm

Samsara:Bowls ceramics 2023 50 *40 *14cm

Samsara:Platter ceramics 2023 50 *26 *1cm

Samsara:Banner Photography 6240*4160

Samsara

My initial motivation for this work is that I have always had an inexplicable sense of belonging and longing for nature, specifically, since I was a child, I have always longed for the sea, where it can give me a sense of belonging. I think all people have a sense of belonging to a certain place in their genes, and this sense of belonging will lead you to return to this place. The source of my sense of belonging is actually my longing for my hometown, which is in Taiwan, a small island surrounded by the sea, but since I was a child, I was taken away from Taiwan to live in an inland city in China, and I had never seen the sea before I was eighteen years old, so I always had a kind of obsession with the sea, and it was not until I was eighteen years old when I came back to my hometown that I felt a sense of belonging that I had never felt before. There was always a voice inside me telling me that I belonged here and that I should return to this place. So after I left Taiwan to study in the UK I have been searching for this sense of belonging and where it comes from.

 At the beginning of the work I thought about where my sense of belonging comes from, and at first I thought it was something in nature that was holding me back, so I started researching nature. I spent a lot of time in nature to feel the faint scent, I tried to find the scent that I felt in Taiwan's seashore that strongly attracted me, and I went to different seashores in many countries, but I never found that scent of belonging again. However, in this process, I have seen through my observation of nature that plants and organisms are born in nature and eventually decay in nature, and this phenomenon makes me wonder if the place where they finally return to after their decay is their "belonging". I call this phenomenon "natural reincarnation", so I think the sense of belonging seems to be the same kind of manifestation as reincarnation, and as long as I find the end of reincarnation, then I will find my "belonging".

 Based on this discovery, I set out to read a great deal of literature and books to help me advance my project. I researched explanations of reincarnation in Buddhism, Benjaminism, and Shamanism, where the concept of reincarnation seems to have long been associated with life and death. Buddhism also refers to the Six Paths of Reincarnation, which is a more detailed explanation of reincarnation: reincarnation is the world after death, and nothing that happens during reincarnation exists in the present world. I found that the explanation of reincarnation in religion was not what I wanted; I didn't think death was the end, and the belonging of death was not the belonging I wanted to find for me. So I looked into Nietzsche's eternal reincarnation, which is an interesting concept, and Nietzsche also gives another explanation for reincarnation that is different from the religious explanation, which is a concept that assumes that the universe repeats itself over and over again in exactly the same form, just as we repeat the same life over and over again after we die, which is completely different from the religious concept of reincarnation after death where you are reborn and reincarnated and start a new life. Neither religion nor philosophy has given me a clear end to reincarnation and where it really belongs.

 After a lot of research on reincarnation in literature and books I decided to start experimenting with materials for my work. Since the starting point of my theme is nature, I wanted to choose a natural material to experiment with. When I was thinking about how to choose a natural material, I remembered a book I had read at the time called "Geophilia", which talks about why human beings feel attached to the land, and the "sense of belonging" is very similar to the sense of attachment that human beings feel towards a specific land as mentioned in the book. This book inspired me and helped me to choose soil as my material of choice. The phenomenon of land nurturing new life and swallowing up decaying death feels very much like a part of the cycle of reincarnation to me. In my research on the material I collected different kinds of soil from different countries and places and then mixed them together, I also read a lot of literature on soil, one of which mentioned the "regeneration" of soil, because the earliest land in history was a whole piece of land, so no matter where the soil is, it is actually the same piece of land at the root. Soil from different places can quickly adapt to the local soil. These experiments helped me to understand the properties of the material, but I needed to understand how it could be transformed into a work of art. So I researched the works of some artists and observed how they transformed natural materials into their own artistic language. In my research, many artists use the natural materials themselves without making many deformations for them, which is a very direct way of expression in my opinion. For example, in the work "Our Labyrinth" by Lee MingWei, an artist I like very much, he directly brought rice to the exhibition. I went to the exhibition and saw it on site, and the directness of the naturalness really brought strong feelings to the audience, not only in terms of the sense of sight but also in terms of the sense of smell. One of my favourite pieces, "weather report" by Bridget Smith, is a piece that records the changing seasons and fluctuating light, and is woven with freshwater hyssop. In my opinion, this is also a piece of work that directly presents the natural materials to the audience without any treatment, but I hope that the natural materials can retain their own materials and characteristics and at the same time make certain deformations to fit in with the whole work, rather than overpowering the materials themselves. So I thought about how to turn the soil into a more suitable material for me to use, and then I thought about the form of sculpture, among which I think the one that can retain the originality of the material itself is ceramics, ceramics are directly fired and moulded into shape, and I think that this way is not only to let the clay produce a lot of deformation more suitable for the work itself, but at the same time, can also retain the originality of the material as much as possible

 After determining the material, I went to Jingdezhen to learn ceramics production, in the process I came into contact with all kinds of clay, there are very fine clay and various colours of clay, I finally chose a kind of clay is not used as the earliest ceramics production of clay, because this kind of clay contains a large number of particles and gravel, used to make fine vessels is not appropriate, it is too rough, it is usually used in the firing of the It is too coarse and is generally used to wrap fine ceramic artefacts when firing them so that they are not burnt. This kind of clay has a very strong plasticity, because it contains a lot of sand and stone can better help shape and adhesion, and because it is used to protect the crafts itself, so it has a higher degree of stability, not easy to blow up in the firing situation, when I understand these I think this kind of clay is the most suitable material for me. I was fully engaged in the process of working with ceramics, trying to use the material to help me move forward with the project, but I ended up being confused as to what I was looking for in terms of a sense of belonging and the truth of reincarnation. I didn't know what I was looking for in terms of "belonging" and "reincarnation truth" and what drove me to this point, and I realised that I didn't have a strong enough reason to make a strong final work.

When I was in a daze, there were actually many changes in my life. I tried to repair my relationship with my mother in my last work "string" and made it easier, but now, three years after the end of this work, my mother has new problems with me and our relationship is back to its original brokenness, which is a big blow to me. Our relationship has returned to its initial brokenness, which is a great shock to me. At the same time, I was also facing the Chinese postgraduate exams, which was also very stressful for me. I was very anxious during that time because I didn't want to go back to China, but it was my mother who wanted me to go back to China so she forced me to take the Chinese postgraduate exams, and I couldn't catch my breath from all of this. It reminded me of when I was in high school, I didn't want to come to the UK to study but my mother forced me to come to London, I was in a position where I couldn't choose between these options, there were choices that I really wanted to make but I never made them. I couldn't make a choice for myself at the time, so now I've made a choice for myself by giving up my Chinese postgraduate exams and applying for postgraduate study at the school I really wanted to go to. But because of this decision, my mother's relationship with me became more difficult, and I chose to continue to develop the "string" project I had started three years ago. My heart chose to start over again, and I began to repair our relationship and even my heart for the second time. Behind these choices, I realised that what I really wanted, after being lost or making a wrong choice, I would go back to the beginning and make a new choice. After being lost and confused, I looked into my heart and found out that what I really wanted was actually what I wanted in the first place. Behind the broken relationship is my initial hope for a harmonious and beautiful family relationship, so after repairing the broken relationship again, I still choose to go back to the original point to start repairing the relationship again. After not having the autonomy to choose to study in London, I once again have this opportunity to choose where I really want to go. I didn't choose to be taken away from Taiwan when I was a child, but that sense of belonging has always fascinated me so much that it has allowed me to return to that land once again after 18 years.

 When I finished thinking about this, I re-examined my project again and I seemed to have found my "sense of belonging" and "truth of reincarnation". In fact, the real destination is the original idea at the beginning, we may be confused and spend a lot of time and energy on the way of pursuing this idea, but in the end, we will go back to the place where we started and then see our true heart, which is the "truth of reincarnation" for me. When I look back again after being lost, my initial motivation for doing this work is actually my "belonging", and my ultimate direction is to return to the starting point after all these ridiculous and witty efforts, to complete the closure of the cycle and at the same time to see clearly what I want to find in my heart in the end, the "sense of belonging".  In fact, I already know the answer, my belonging is to return to my hometown, standing on that piece of land, I have completed this thing, but that feeling is my heart can not forget the "sense of belonging", perhaps after I no matter where I go will eventually return to my hometown again.

 My final work "samsara" is a series of five ceramic pieces that represent the process of confusion, pain, anxiety, and finally finding myself throughout this project. Pillar" and "Vat" are the two most important works in this series. The pillar is always straight and independent, which is like my self-consciousness. I think my pursuit is always forward and clear, but in the process of pursuing the goal, I will be lost, when I am no longer firm and self-confident, and I start to be lost, just like this tilted pillar, which is not a straight and independent image, even an unsteady and tilted object, which also symbolised the collapse of my sense of self, and the loss of direction in my quest for my sense of "belonging". The "Vat" is the symbol that breaks this disorientation. The bottom of the vat is covered with intricate, curving totems that I painted in glaze, which surround the entire chassis in circle after circle, as if I had encountered all sorts of confusing things on my way to finding my "sense of belonging", and these are the key to my disorientation. These were the keys to my confusion, I was lost in this labyrinth, unable to find my way out, but the bottom of the vat was not connected to the vat's body, as long as I looked through the hole left at the bottom of the tank, what I saw was no longer a labyrinthine dilemma, but a vast and clear vision which also represents a kind of introspection. We always need to keep introspecting, when we are no longer confused, we can see the purest heart of our own heart, which is also our true heart. For me, what I see is my true "sense of belonging", and after circling around, I go back to the original original point and look at my real heart.

 For me the main idea of "samsara" seems to be to find the ultimate "belonging" in a form of "reincarnation", but in fact this project is also a personal introspection for me. We all have our first pursuit, no matter out of what kind of impulse or desire, we may get lost or deviate from the initial track in this pursuit, but after spending our energy and time, we will eventually go back to the starting point of the beginning and then re-examine ourselves to think about our initial desire, this is a journey of introspection and also an answer to the "truth of reincarnation" given by me.

ceramics 2023