Rooted in topsoil

Author

Jiaying Wang, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow

Date of Award

Spring 6-3-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Sculpture

First Advisor

Taylor Baldwin

Second Advisor

Daniel Zentmeyer

Third Advisor

Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels

Abstract

Disillusioned by my transnational identity, I have come to realize that my sense of belonging is no longer attached to any physical location, but instead to a state of mind, to an intimacy with the world. My notion of home is an obscure and unsettled—at times utopian—idea, which can be infinitely decoded, re-positioned and re-established psychologically. This thesis is an investigation of that liminal state, questioning the paradoxical place at the intersection of longing and belonging, interior and exterior, rootedness and uprootedness. Through a collection of short essays that accompany projects, I seek to unpack the precarious emotional complexities that surface in the experience of conflicting realities. As I navigate between nostalgia for the “native” culture of the past and search for affinity in the adopted culture of the present, I use material processes to forge a zone of stability and comfort, a “homecoming” in disguise.

Although it is not possible to map all the shattered fragments, my work makes an attempt. In it I explore how the quest for personal reconciliation makes space for compassionate experimentation with materiality informed by place and sense. Mundane objects act as transitional souvenirs that are manifestations of my personal history, and indexes of multiple belongings. Through casting, digital media and site-interventions, I construct a space for finding, connecting, attaching and detaching.

Recommended Citation

Wang, Jiaying, "Rooted in topsoil" (2023). Masters Theses. 1133.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1133

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.