art making & exhibiting 2023

jay li

This mixed media sculpture by Jay Li explores themes of human emotions and experiences. The artwork itself illustrates a combination of three faces together with the loose representation of a self-portrait, morphing and merging to suggest ideas of confusion, optimism, and pessimism. Inspired by surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali, Li’s oeuvre portrays their personal style that is surrealist based on representational imagery that overall evokes an eerie and uncomfortable feeling within the viewers.

The artwork could be interpreted in many ways, but when viewed alongside the other two artworks from Li’s collection, it focuses the meaning more onto the idea of the earth’s climate in the future. The main concept that Li explores in the mixed media artwork conveys the artist’s personal relationship with the deteriorating climate around her while growing up. The main feeling portrayed is confusion, supported by the sand that buries the body and portrays a suffocating experience. The other two faces demonstrate the two different pathways of emotion that extend from this confusion. One is in denial of the issue and continues living in optimism of the problem with climate change, whereas the other one accepts that the problem exists, and is sceptical of the future. The flower, a purple hyacinth, represents hope and forgiveness. As the hand reaches out from under the sand, Li explores the concept of seeking forgiveness from nature, even from a stage of confusion and uncertainty.

The two artworks from Unit 3 explore the effects of the changing climate on the landscape through two extremes – the desert-like landscape compared to the overflooded city environment in an overall dystopian inspired aesthetic.