MINIATURE CATASTROPHE
"Miniature Catastrophe" is a project of poetic story-telling through cartography. It is a map, at very roughly 1:5000000, of the Marshall Islands, which consists of 34 atolls. These low-lying atolls, with a mean height of 2 metres (7 feet) above sea level and home to over 50,000 Marshallese people, are currently being threatened by the continuously rising sea level.
The contour of each atoll is traced with black ink on fine Japanese paper, while a piece of ice cube is placed in the centre of each atoll. As the ice melts, its water seeps into the fibre of the paper and smudges the originally neatly drawn ink contours, creating dramatic patterns. The melting of ice in the polar regions, although thousands of miles away from the equator, directly affects the vulnerable atolls. Shrinking such reality a million times and borrowing it as a technique on paper, as seen in the ink traces disrupted by the melting ice, indirectly lures the viewer to ponder on the story in between.
"Miniature Catastrophe" is a project of poetic story-telling through cartography. It is a map, at very roughly 1:5000000, of the Marshall Islands, which consists of 34 atolls. These low-lying atolls, with a mean height of 2 metres (7 feet) above sea level and home to over 50,000 Marshallese people, are currently being threatened by the continuously rising sea level.
The contour of each atoll is traced with black ink on fine Japanese paper, while a piece of ice cube is placed in the centre of each atoll. As the ice melts, its water seeps into the fibre of the paper and smudges the originally neatly drawn ink contours, creating dramatic patterns. The melting of ice in the polar regions, although thousands of miles away from the equator, directly affects the vulnerable atolls. Shrinking such reality a million times and borrowing it as a technique on paper, as seen in the ink traces disrupted by the melting ice, indirectly lures the viewer to ponder on the story in between.
Title: Miniature Catastrophe
Dimension: 216cm W x 185cm H x 1cm D (85in W x 73in H x 0.4in D). Collapsable into 42 panels of 30cm W x 30cm H x 1cm D (12 in W x 12in H x 0.4in D) each.
Materials: Mixed media (mirror, Japanese paper, light-fast Indian ink, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium)
Dimension: 216cm W x 185cm H x 1cm D (85in W x 73in H x 0.4in D). Collapsable into 42 panels of 30cm W x 30cm H x 1cm D (12 in W x 12in H x 0.4in D) each.
Materials: Mixed media (mirror, Japanese paper, light-fast Indian ink, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium)
Title: Misfits, Offcuts, and Castaways No.2
Dimension: Variable
Material: Mixed media (moving images, plastics, and fishing net)
2 minutes 30 seconds
All camera work, image, and editing by Yi Dai.
Dimension: Variable
Material: Mixed media (moving images, plastics, and fishing net)
2 minutes 30 seconds
All camera work, image, and editing by Yi Dai.