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Guo Fan: Art Installation and Jewelry Design

Yang Mai's "Guo Fan" is a unique art installation and jewelry design that pays tribute to the Chaozhou culture and the history of overseas Chinese remittance. The project, which started in October in Guangzhou and finished in May 2021, was exhibited at the Guangzhou Academic of Fine Arts in June 2021.

The design draws inspiration from the Chaozhou gold lacquer wood carving, a representative of Chaoshan culture, and the shrine, an important expression of this skill and carrier of the Chaozhou clan concept. It aims to excavate the history of Chaozhou overseas Chinese who made a living in Southeast Asia and to remember and memorialize the spirit of hard work of the ancestors of Chaoshan.

Using materials such as brass, stainless steel, aluminum, resin, and acrylic, and production techniques including laser cutting and 3D printing, the art installation measures 278mm*236mm*149mm, while the jewelry comes in various sizes.

The installation works by the historical facets of "culture of overseas Chinese remittance" and "Guo Fan" overlap infinitely through the continuous turning of the two-way linkage spindle structure. The jewelry is based on the concept of "slices of history," transforming the wearer into the protagonist of the historical fragments and experiencing the story of each slice.

The project's theme, "culture of overseas Chinese remittance," is deeply rooted in the close relationship between Chaozhou wood carving and overseas Chinese remittance. Through extensive research and fieldwork visits, Mai aimed to unearth and pattern the inherent cultural stories, combining them with dynamic installations to tell the memories of overseas Chinese remittance through jewelry.

Yang Mai is a student studying and researching the relationship between culture and jewelry, with a focus on conveying cultural ideas to the public through jewelry to pass down culture in a new way in the new era.

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