Reincarnation's Blessing, 2021

This work started as an aspiration of fighting against the rule of death, a desire to exist to the eternity, even when the physical body is decayed and returned to ashes. The idea of this work came from  two Japanese’s concepts called Wabi Sabi - the perfection that lies in imperfection - and Tsukumogami – a spiritual belief of “everything has a spirit”, and the (household) objects that were used for a long time through generations will come to life and sometimes become the guardians that protect their owners and houses. Based on this idea I created a set of sake cups and bottles, using the hand-building techniques. The sake set represents myself and my own life, because I personally enjoy this type of drink, and because it links with the tradition of mourning in my culture and family– using white rice wine (similar to sake) as an offering in traditional death ceremonies. The hand-building techniques is how I associate with my objects, where by pinching and coiling the clay, the cups and bottles would end up carrying a part of my soul within the handmarks on them. The longer they are going to be used, the longer my existence will last.

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However, throughout the working process, I reconsidered the concept of this work, and has a more accurate perspective towards the idea of death. I realized that what I was afraid of wasn’t the death itself, but the fact that I can be dead and disappeared before I could do anything that makes a meaning to my life, and my existence can end up being meaningless and useless. I learnt that instead of fighting against or avoiding the idea of death, I should embrace and appreciate it. Therefore the creation of this work became a process of finding the meaning of death in my own perspective, and to find out what I actually want from it: I want to leave a trace mark that proves my existence. The sake set is no longer something that prolonged my “life”, but instead giving my blessings and protections towards my next generations. The skin of the sake cups and bottles – the butterflies patterns that were created by scrapping the top black layer of glaze to reveal the coloured layer underneath – is my way of featuring the idea of reincarnation and reborn. In my culture, the image of black butterflies is believed to be the last visit and greeting of a dead person, usually to give the blessings to their family members. The lines patterns that come across the cups and bottles were influenced by the image of lava breaking through the black layer on top of it, as it reminds me of the image of “being reborn” or “coming to life”. The sake set is what I use to store all the blessings and fortunes that I want for my next generations.

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During building the body of the objects, I also realized what the actual meaning of Wabi Sabi is. It is not about carelessly building or making an object without putting effort into refining its shape and form. Wabi Sabi is the process of creating an object with your wariness, taking care of it, giving it the attention and time it deserves, and by that, no matter how the end result turns out to be, we still appreciate and treasure every part of that object, including the imperfections.