ember and sun, 2024
2024.5.18—5.27
group exhibition at norm gallery, Wakayama,
and Kfleurs plant atelier, Osaka, Japan
Artists:
Han Yun Liang (ceramics) / 窓話 (food) / Mikako Tsuruta (paper) / rinn to hitsuji (candle)
3 Photos from the top: courtesy of Mikako Tsuruta
Sometimes I wonder, what can be seen on the other side of the firelight?
In the process of creating ceramics, fire is an unavoidable element. It can transform the piece into different states. However, after the piece is fired, we rarely notice its presence. Even so, the fire was indeed there, playing an important role.
So, I want to "make fire." More specifically, I want to continue the existence of fire through clay.
I draw from the story in Greek mythology where the Titan Prometheus steals the fire of the gods from Zeus, hides it in the stalk of fennel, and brings it to mankind. The "invisible fire" hidden in the plant stalk and the "unrepeatable fire" in the ceramic firing process——one brings civilization, the other becomes existence. They both manifest this intangible yet important fire.
In the Chinese myth, the archer Hou Yi shoots down nine suns, saving people from drought and extreme heat. People at the time believed the golden sun was the incarnation of a crow. When the crow encountered danger, it would fly up and turn into a golden crow, and when it turned black, it signified the end of its fate. I see the clay as the crow in the story. The crow changes color in different situations, and so does the clay. In the kiln, the clay changes color depending on the temperature of the fire, transforming into ceramics and carrying the memory of the fire.
These embers and the sun are thus born. The existence of fire concretizes parts of the past, present, and future of the clay. Likewise, in our journey, everything we experience, learn, lose, and enjoy shapes our existence, while also invisibly catalyzing the unfolding of other things, continuing our embers and the sun.
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餘火與太陽
2024
norm gallery 和歌山 / Kfleurs 大阪．日本
參展藝術家
Han Yun Liang (陶) / 窓話 (食) / Mikako Tsuruta (纖維) / rinn to hitsuji (蠟燭)
Photo courtesy of Mikako Tsuruta
最上方的三張照片來自藝術家 Mikako Tsuruta
有時我會想，在火光的另一端能看到什麼呢？
在陶瓷的創作過程裡，火是一個無法避免的元素之一，她能將作品轉換成不同的狀態，然而，作品被燒製完成後，我們很少意識到到她的存在。即便如此，火確實在那裡，曾經發揮著重要的作用。
所以，我想「做火」。更具體的說，我想透過土，將火的另一種存在得已延續。
我借取希臘神話的故事中，泰坦神普羅米修斯盜取天神宙斯的火種，藏在大茴香的莖裡，帶給人類使用的片段出發，藏在植物莖裡「看不見的火」和燒製陶瓷過程裡「無法再現的火」，一個帶來文明，另一個則成為存在，他們都顯化了這個無形但重要的火。
在中國神話故事中，弓箭手后羿射下九個太陽，拯救人們免於乾旱和酷熱之中。當時的人相信金色的太陽是烏鴉的化身，當烏鴉遇到危險時會飛上天變成金烏，而當它變黑時則代表命運的結束。我將土看作故事中的烏鴉，烏鴉因不同情境而改變顏色，土也一樣，土在窯內因火的溫度不同顏色也會不同，土轉變成陶瓷承接火記憶。
這些餘火與太陽因而的誕生，火的存在具體化了土的過去、現在以及未來的一部分；我們也一樣，像在一段旅程中，我們經歷、學習、失去、享受的所有事物，這些都形塑了我們的存在，同時也無形催化了其他事物的展開，繼續著我們的餘火與太陽。