relic
In China there exist a festival for died person called “qingming festival”.During this festival people will draw a circle on the ground and burn money or house made in paper for their ancestor. Because they believe after burning the money and house will be send to their relatives in underworld.
In recent years this traditional custom also has a derivative: people will burn a paper house in front of the demolishing house once they live in, they believe after burning the memory and good luck will be taken by them
Inspired by this unique custom and phenomenon I start to make series of paper house based on the shape of traditional residential area in my home town and apply porcelain slip on the paper house. Then I build a kiln to fire these paper house, after burning some part gone with the air while some part left as a fragile porcelain piece.
I also experiment applying different materials like copper plate, silver paper, metal powder and various leaves on the surface of the paper slip to get different effects after burning.
The whole process from making the paper house to firing in the kiln gave me a strong ceremonial feeling. I feel peaceful and immersed during the process. The result after burning become the relic which include my memory and experience.