Remembrance

 
Title: Remembrance
Artists: Hui Sze, Jing Lin, Xinge, Yi Yuan, Zhong Xin, Yu Qi
Dimension: diameter- 20 cm, height- 15 cm


A tomb once existed in the garden behind the school. It could have been destroyed by now. It was made from materials found in the garden. We intended it to be site-specific, just like how Andy creates art from nature.


We stumbled upon a tiny plant and some pebbles in the garden. And we have decided to surround the tiny plant with a ring of pebbles. It turned out to resemble a tomb and so we thought it would be interesting to see what we can continue do with 1) a ring of pebbles and 2) a tiny plant in the middle of the ring. We thought that tombs have a tombstone, so we found a white pebble as the tombstone and gathered some fallen wild flowers as offering. We picked up a snail’s shell along the way and placed it in front of the tombstone. Then, it occurred to me. A realisation.


The reason why we get to see plants growing healthily is due to the nutrients that exist in the soil, which are the result of the contribution of decayed matter. Organisms die and decay and go back to earth as nourishment for other plants that rely on it to grow well. It is the way nature functions, as a cycle.


We always forget why we can enjoy the beautiful scenary. We always forget the reason is because of the constant, endless and seemingly unnoticeable contribution of the organisms in the habitat that helped to sustain the scenary. We always forget that we should also do our part to make our environment beautiful.
Hence, I thought that the snail’s shell can represent the contribution of dead organisms and the tomb can serve as a commemoration and remembrance of the contributions made. This art work is a reminder to us, urging us to do our part to conserve the beautiful environment.

Extension


Artist: Andy Goldsworthy
Title: Pebbles around a hole
Dimensions: Unknown



“The underlying tension of a lot of my art is to try and look through the surface appearance of things. Inevitably, one way of getting beneath the surface is to introduce a hole, a window into what lies below.”-- Andy Goldsworthy


I think Remembrance is similar to Andy’s Pebbles around a hole sinceboth have a focal point, the tombstone and the black hole respectively. Also, both art works have pebbles as the main type of material.



“Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I I try to tap through my work…,” as quoted from Andy. Indeed, decay belongs to the lifeblood of nature, without it, nature cannot function, beauty is history.