Date of Award
Spring 6-6-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Glass
First Advisor
Rachel Berwick
Second Advisor
Sean Salstrom
Third Advisor
Anne West
Abstract
I love reading stories, but until now, I had never written my own. Balancing the Tangible & Intangible is organized around my experiences and stories, which are inseparable from my work. Together they constellate a narrative of remembrance. Memories surface, and so do connections, allowing for assurance and conviction during a time of personal flux and global unsettledness. As a choreographer and composer of relationships between the tangible and intangible, I rebuild networks of connections linking memories of my relationship to China, my home country, to my experience of living in the West.
In today's global society, population migration is increasing, and many people are leaving their hometowns. Therefore, I focus on how the concept of home and identity is changing. And in this process, how culture, tradition, psychology, and emotion construct self-identity. Many human emotions are similar, such as happiness, sadness, loss, regret, etc. I use personal items as the material source of my artwork, they may look ordinary and inconspicuous, but they contain strong emotions and memories. When viewers engage with my works, they can recall a vivid memory of their past experiences, even if they come from different backgrounds.
This thesis's artworks are based on my experiences and stories, which are inseparable from each other. Those stories that I remember are so deep that they keep resurfacing in my memory like a slideshow. I write my stories throughout this thesis because I worry that I will gradually forget these beautiful moments. As the title of my thesis, my experiences and stories are intangible, and artwork is a tangible representation of them. Through writing each story, I work on clarifying the ideas present in each artwork. The story is a record of my experience from a certain period, and my work is a summary of that particular experience. The end of one story is also the beginning of another one.
Recommended Citation
Wu, Shiqi, "Balancing the tangible and intangible" (2021). Masters Theses. 624.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/624
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
View exhibition online: Shiqi Wu, Balancing the Tangible and Intangible