Fluid Selves is an installation of up to a hundred individual porcelain pieces that stand alone or collectively, like dancers whose individuality is clear even when they perform in unison.

 

The pieces can be grouped in any number and configuration. I used porcelain because it can look loose when thrown yet grounded when carved, the carving complementing the fluidity and curves.

 

The installation is predominantly made of shades of white with varied markings. This reflects the truth that 'things are never black and white' but nuanced.

 

The bright yellow accents symbolise the beauty of uniqueness but also the visibility of minority.This colour was  inspired by the Imperial yellow of dynastic China wherein it was forbidden for anyone except the emperor to wear this shade. The symbolism of yellow in general continues in its derogatory reference to the Chinese race but also in contrast, to yellow being the colour of monks robes as well as the colour symbolic of the Buddha. 

 

Beneath the apparent differences above, underneath they are all made of unadorned porcelain and thus the same.