Yimei Yuan

Yimei Yuan RCA

Left: Indian wind instrument from V&A Museum

Below: Yimei Yuan. We Are Not Owners Here

Yimei originally studied ceramics in Jingdezhen, China from 2014 until joining the Royal College of Art.

For her project, she chose an Indian wind instrument from V&A Museum, made of clay and entirely covered in red printed cotton with white floral motifs. Used in religious ceremonies.

She really wanted to use the sound of the ceramic itself to make sound. The work is made of two parts, the ceramic container, and the ceramic ball, which moves over the surface of the container to make the sound.

In order to create this she used two methods. Throwing and moulds, finishing the work through carving and painting. The thickness of each piece varies so we can hear the different sounds of ceramics. For the interior decoration of the plate, she wanted to visualize the sound, so chose to use a voiceprint. This is a sound from monks chanting in the temple. The upper part of the plate represents the world of our daily life. There is a part of it full of religious sounds, but some parts are not. The bottom of the plate is the world after death. These ceramic balls represent how God put us into this world, but no matter which way these ceramic balls go, no matter how long it takes them to fall, they have only one end.

https://wip2021.rca.ac.uk/students/yimei-yuan