Migration Vase 2018

The statuesque size and shape of the original, plus its comic strip-like decoration style, was an ideal way to relate the migration story told through facebook posts of my friend Suet Yi.  I got to know Suet Yi when she was a student from Hong Kong, studying Decorative Art at Nottingham Trent University in 2010.  She did some work experience with me to supplement her education and continued working part time in my studio whilst setting up her own ceramics practice after graduating.  Her story of applying for leave to remain to continue her life and burgeoning success as an artist in the UK, and her eventual return to Hong Kong after being turned down by the Home Office was recorded in her Facebook posts at the time.  Everyone who knew her was touched by her story and the thought that we would probably never see her again deeply affected us all.  

I decided to use Suet Yi’s Facebook posts as the ‘found text’ starting point to illustrate her story on a single large-scale piece of work and the Migration Vase is the result.  The vase is currently on long term loan at the Oriental Museum in Durham, UK.

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