Linked, 2024
Crocheted ramie dyed with shulang (薯榔), woven shell ginger (月桃)
20cmL x 7cmW x 35cmH
Created during my Art Ripple Taitung residency with Abus Bunun Traditional Weaving Workshop
Separated by distance and perhaps modern language, Austronesian people still share common roots when tracing back their origins. This work splits apart but joins back into a single sculpture, suggesting how these Austronesian people who have walked down different paths all those years ago have a shared history. When viewed from the side, the artwork’s holes meld into a single form, and the woven loop in the middle forms a clear link that is seemingly sunken into the crochet, locked in place.
The organic form of the crochet was inspired by arches and holes in coastal rock formations, which I saw in Lyudao Island (Taitung).
While weaving is made up of many different warp and wefts (like in the Yuetao weaving at the bottom), crochet is made by one continuous thread. Creating this was a challenge at merging 2 techniques that are foundationally different.
‘Linked’ is an exploration of breaking and rejoining. Even when the form splits in two, it ultimately joins back into the same one sculpture seamlessly, giving the impression that the holes have worn through the middle as they do in coastal rock formations. The two separate materials seem to have grown around each other with time.