Leaves
This work is a continuation of "Wind Bell," in which the metal elements in a super-enriched plant are visualized and observed through fire. Because the environment and the creature are connected, the information from the environment leaves an imprint on the plant through the flow of rivers and soil. In this work, the artist burns heavy metal-rich plants to make an ash glaze, which is then applied to a porcelain photograph in the shape of a leaf. After the ceramic leaves are fired at high temperatures, the metal particles inside the plants are transformed into the colors of the glaze, some of which resemble dead leaves, others like young shoots, all determined by the metallic composition of the plant ash. After the transformation of the glaze was completed, the artist continued to observe the glaze microscopically and discovered that the composition of these colors came from metallic crystals of varying degrees, and that these metallic crystals, which had been melted by fire and condensed together, were the traces of human activity in the environment.
"Leaves" displays beautiful glazes and crystalline surfaces, but that beauty is the crystallized trace of industrial emissions, mineral flows, and ecological pollution. The work is both an aesthetic object and a record of the material information chain linking plants, soil, and pollution/extraction. It emphasizes how materials remember and reveal the ecological marks of human activity. What is visible is not necessarily understandable or harmless—the surface's visual "cuteness/readability" masks deeper material violence.