Mom’s Love. You are not fat, eat more.
Updated: Apr 4, 2023
These brooches are one of the pieces from mom’s love， which is inspired by Cantonese soup culture. It is the most significant category in Cantonese food culture. It shows the love and care of mother and principle of a healthy diet. This brooch shows my identity as a Cantonese, who moved to Canada and represents my homesickness. I put the Chinese medicine plants sea coconut(海底椰), and five-finger peach (五指毛桃） in the piece directly, to show my appreciation of my culture. And I keep the natural form and texture of the plant itself, to try to show the audience the truth about the ingredient. “YOU ARE NOT FAT” and” EAT MORE "are the phrase from my mom, that she used to tell me when I got into the trap of mainstream aesthetics. Years ago, when most people thought only thin type of body is beautiful, but mom cares about health more than beauty. Cantonese soup has been known for balancing the Yin and Yang energy of our body, which is the representation of healthy eating and a symbol of Cantonese culture DNA.
Love seeing your journey of coming to this new body of work. You did alot of research at the beginning of the semester and started down a pathway with work that you seemed to have questions about as you worked through it. These new brooches occurred to you suddenly and are very strong visually, and your description/statement makes alot of sense. Can't wait to see additional pieces in this series!