shifting horizons 2016

www.hannakay.com

“Shifting Horizons” is a collection of artworks inspired by trips Hanna Kay made to China since 2012. The most significant experiences were encounters with clay relics in several imperial burial pits in Xi’an. In addition to being moved by these ancient cultural practices, she was impressed by the techniques and use of materials by both traditional and contemporary artists. Consequently, this body of work, both two and three-dimensional, employs some traditional Chinese materials to create a cross-cultural dialogue about history, memory, and commemoration in different societies.

The artworks explore the environmental context which would have helped shape the burial practices in ancient Xi’an and the confluence of forces that have since acted upon the place. As such, they are a nexus of the immeasurable age of the natural world, with the fragility and transience of human perception on which that experience is dependent.

Hanna Kay is a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University. Shifting Horizons is part of the creative component of her thesis.