Artist Statement
Corals serves an important role to the marine structure and ecosystem. Also known as the “rainforests of the sea,” coral reefs feed and provide home to countless marine animals and fishes, some of which go to human’s stomach at the end of the food chain. However, coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate with numerous environmental damages.
Is This Real is a two-part installation. The first part consists of a coral sculpture built by food materials, including various types of mushrooms, pasta, and vegetables.
Moving waves was projected to create a sense of underwater. The physical sculpture allows audience to closely observe its details in different angles. The second part was a video of the coral sculpture and waves projection (taken prior to the installation); the “water” colour changes and creates a stunning scene.
Is This Real is a piece that echoes my past work of using food to build a setting, and it references about eco, ecology, in several ways. First, the use of food directly ties in corals as the food of many marine lives. Second, as the mushrooms decay over the installation period, the time element of the piece is referencing the dying corals. The piece also conveys the importance of dying corals in our lives. Food, one of the basic needs of human life, is something that we counter with every day. By using food to build corals, the piece suggests equal importance between corals and food, and that attention on alarming corals issues should become a part of our lives. Also, Is This Real speaks a possibility of the disappearance of corals. Created by food and waves projection, the piece is, in fact, an illusion of corals and water; after all, these beautiful “corals” are not real. The title, Is This Real, also suggests such delusion and encourages audience to think and to question. The magnificent corals are our optimistic imagination of the coral crisis, and the actual corals in nature will be gone soon if we continue to damage the environment.
Is This Real invites audience to stare at the piece, reminds them the beauty of corals, and encourages more thoughts and attention on coral crisis.