About
Bio
Joyce Shi is an interdisciplinary artist exploring ritual and seduction through sculptures made of wood, glass, and stone. She graduated from RISD with a BFA degree in Glass. Her work is informed by her multi-cultural identity, as well as her interest in transformation, craft, and alchemy. She is currently based in Vancouver, BC.Statement
My practice is informed by Ritual, both as a making process and as a topic of exploration. I’ve always been drawn to the miscellaneous objects labeled for ritual use in ancient archaeology, I like to imagine their use. I picture Ritual in its most intense form– a Ceremony, the way my ancestors did them in the Yellow River Valley. I’m drawn to the Performance of Ceremony and how rules seem to bend and distort within its contexts.
Within Ritual, objects no longer focus solely on their functionality: A spear used in warfare becomes a companion in dance; its bronze tip– casted in bronze for durability and efficiency– is replaced by jade, handcarved and sharpened to perfection; its handle, once rough and weathered by combat, now bejeweled in a mosaic of precious stones; yet the spear remains deadlier than ever, fully functional in all its luxury. It still performs war, this beauty of a spear. It still twirls in the hands of its wielder as it would on the battlefield, it cuts through thick plumes of sandalwood smoke as it would cut through flesh. Except in Ritual, no blood is spilled in vain.