Description

One of a unique edition of six (6) silver 3D printed spheres in PLA (corn starch plastic) produced in the making of Rooting for you, SCAPE Season 2023.

The artist says:

In the making of Rooting for you, these spheres I have created went through various phases in their states of materiality, a process I would like to relate to as an act of translation. Similar to that of a linguistic rendering from one language to another, a conversion between states of being, or a mathematical transformation of coordinates.

First, they were digital images of my retina scan obtained from my frequent visits to the optometrist upon receiving my contact lenses subscription. A three-dimensional sphere of my retina was then digitally created from these images. Followed by the birth of the first sphere into the physical world, as a silver 3D print in PLA, a plastic made from corn starch. Using the 3D print as the mother sphere, a silicone mould was made, replicates of the sphere in clear epoxy resin were then able to be made using the same mould. Embodied here is a constant change in materiality that my sculptures must undertake, in order to reach its final state of solidity.

Since my move to Aotearoa at a formative age, this constant change in states of being was experienced and challenged. In Mandarin Chinese, there are no tenses. The verb never changes its state, but instead has to rely on context or ‘aspect particles’ for the meaning to be located in relation to time. Even though I write in English, my psyche still remains rooted in Mandarin. Within diasporic realities, thoughts, problems, and emotions must also go through the process of translation, in order to continue on the trajectory towards reaching a state of solidity, belonging. — Susu

Susu 蘇子誠 is a Taiwanese artist (Han, Min-nan) based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Read more