HOME BETWEEN // Stacking Tumblers
Finding home between this place and another.
Home Between is a set of stackable tumblers that contemplates the role of nature when forming our identities, growing up in the Australian landscape. The work studies natural patterns and phenomenology observed in local estuaries, as well as the adaptations of Grey Mangroves that inhabit the shorelines, using this as an allegory for
viewing the experience of living between Chinese and Australian culture as a third generation Australian born Chinese individual.
The work is symbolically connected to Grey Mangroves, biologically adapted to live in changeable, transitory conditions. The Mangrove grows in shallow brackish waters between river and sea, typically along shorelines between land and water. The ceramic components of the tumbler set are glazed in a matte finish that fluctuates in green, blue and brown tones, capturing this distinct muddy environment the mangrove lives in.
The undulating contours of the ceramic tumblers below their flanges follow the abstract form of Mangrove forests as they are reflected by calm silty waters. The two chiral (having opposing handedness) ceramic tumblers form the symmetry observed in nature; A liminal space seemingly separating the water and the sky. This space between the vessels is fitted with an interlocking copper ring. With the opposing ceramic tumblers representing two ends of the cultural spectrum, the brown tone of the gaze edges harmonises with the warmth of the copper ring, representing the “third space” that unites and stabilises the components to create a whole.
Home Between is a statement about younger generations being born into the migratory diaspora. The biology and form of the Grey Mangroves serves as a way to reflect upon discovering a new, hybrid space in between worlds while simultaneously experiencing the tension between preserving the culture they came from, and integrating into the culture they now live in.
Home Between
Stackable Tumblers
Stoneware ceramic, glaze, and copper
130(h) x 85(w) x 85(d)mm
