Goldsmiths (2023-2024)

Video, costume, interactive installation

The structure conveys that a person's sense of belonging is ever-shifting between time and space. The 'temporary' materials displayed within the work, such as moving boxes, green netting, and bamboo scaffolding resonate with the audience, especially the East Asian community. In Chinese culture, people have used bamboo scaffolding for construction for centuries. Skilled workers only use bamboo and zip ties to make intricate structures that remain a prominent sight in urban areas of Hong Kong. The installation is a preservation of Hong Kong heritage that transcends Eastern and Western borders. It also proposes that ‘home’ is not always a permanent residence; it is about commemorating generational practices and adapting to new societal changes through travel and migration.

The lanterns are inspired by traditional Chinese lantern-making techniques. The use of tin cans and bottles in the creation process is based on the research on Coca-Colonisation, which refers to how popular American products like soft drinks reinforce Western capitalism and consumerism. Coca-Cola became a global brand during the outbreak of World War Two. The company made patriotic advertisements with other countries featuring themes of community and friendship among service members. Its marketing success in China is one of the prominent examples of globalisation. In reality, it downplays its toxic effects on health, notably diabetes and heart disease by funding narratives that favour industrial profit. 

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The artist organised a lantern-making workshop and created DIY lanterns with participants from 2024 to 2025. The use of soft-drink cans and bottles, re-contextualise corporate materials’ association with globalisation. The artists’ friends and family are free to make their work, emphasising communal unity free from consumerist constraints, no matter ethnicity, gender, or age. The video features the lantern-making and installation process, making the relationship between viewers and creators more intimate. Clips of Hong Kong and London are shown simultaneously in various times and locations, showing the differences and similarities between the two cities, such as the buzzing life of streets, daily travels of tube stations, celebrations of Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival in box-like frames akin to rectangular shapes of scaffolding. Overall, the artwork explores the relation between participants and creators, consumers and producers, past and present, West and East.