WORK

On Protection
2026
Bamboo, ceramics, glaze
35 cm × 15 cm × 45 cm

On Protection, 2026

Bamboo has traditionally been used for both wrapping and protection across many cultures, particularly in East and Southeast Asia. Sustainable and biodegradable, it has long served as an accessible material for safeguarding and containment prior to the rise of modern plastics. Its flexibility, strength, and lightness allow it to be split, bent, woven, and bound into containers, baskets, and structural frameworks.

In this sculptural work, bamboo and ceramic establish a dialogue. The inner ceramic exists as an entity in need of care, while the outer bamboo structure offers a guarding enclosure. The weaving is not decorative but structural – protection is articulated through density, tension, and spacing.

Bamboo’s adaptability is examined as a protective material alongside the cultural understanding of protection, where holding and wrapping become enacted physical gestures. Developed through sustained dialogue between me and the artisan, the form emerged through the negotiation of curvature, tension, and distance between the two materials.

It proposes a central question: how tightly can protection be applied to allow a body to breathe, without turning care into confinement? The question extends beyond the sculpture and into human relationships.

Photo credit: ManKit AuYeung

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