Cross-cultural Identity Through Clay, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan. 4th of October to 4th of November 2018 (End of the Residency)

After all the work we finally managed to complete 10 tiles in total.

The three images above is the location for the tile sculpture. In keeping with our idea we arranged the tiles to symbolise a path. Originally we kept our options open and selected a number of locations for the staff at the park to choose from. We finally agreed upon this location. What is nice about this space is that it is perched up on a hill that looks out into the distance. We arranged the sculpture to point towards the landscape in the distance to symbolise moving into different spaces.

Thank you to the staff including Yoshiko Takahashi and Akira Tao for helping us plan the installation.

We were hoping that we could install the sculpture before leaving the residency. However this was not possible so it will be installed after we leave by the staff. The tape around the piece marks a boundary for concrete to be placed up to and underneath the piece. The tile sculpture we be slightly raised off the ground. We are looking forward to seeing the finished result. 

The three images above show other locations. We were interested in taking pictures of the sculpture in different locations to understand how it interacts with different environments. 

Personally this project has got me thinking about how to place sculpture in an outdoor space. I realised important factors come to mind such as how to balance the sculpture with nature thereby respecting nature. It also got me thinking about the potential of sculpture to interact within an outdoor space.

Myself and Wen-Hsi Harman have decided to name this sculpture Cross-Cultural Path.

Thank you to all of the staff, artists and visitors at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park and the locals around Shigaraki who helped make this project possible.