text by Shao Ting-Ju
Being a participant in this universe, I have been asking the following questions ever since my younger days: "Why was I born?" and "Why am I here?" And due to the difficult situation Taiwan faces in the international arena, I often start to think: "Why was I born a Taiwanese?" For the very reason that I am so strongly interested in our species, my work in ceramics has always used the sculpting of human figures to reflect the artist's concepts.
I recorded a single shape to explore the suffering and imprisonment of souls and bodies, as well as the desire to free the minds. Using different combinations of clay figures, I demonstrate the tension, hostility and dependence of people with their society, as with the harmonious or destructive relationship between man and nature. Enlarging the limbs of the human figures is to project a “freeze frame” record of the environment and myself. It is a continuous recording of my realization of my position in this universe, what I touched and what I saw. Recently, I became very interested in the destination of souls and have tried to explore this.
In recent years, people have abused the resources in this world. A lot of damages have been done to nature, and that resulted in a lot of disasters of magnitude. This is a warning signaled by Mother Nature to us. For this very reason, the exhibition in Kyoto, Japan, 2002, was meant to be a reflection of the respective relationship between nature and us, with birds representing Mother Nature.
And the use of feathers, which could represent the feather on the back of the angels, or the little wings on the angles; in turn draws on the symbolic representation of our faith in trust, hope and aspiration. While there are something in this universe which does not take on a physical form, our faith will remain the striving force that seek to maintain a balance with the universe.
The title of the work also constitutes an important poetic element; it is in itself like a narrative poem, revealing the in-depth meaning of the ceramic art. |
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