Crab Shell Oracles (2022)
The works below evolve from the sculptural performance piece “Crab, alight! / See you in the afterlife…” (2022). These five sculptures come together to form a colony of crab shell oracles, which seek to divine the future.
This work is based on ox bone or turtle shell oracles used in ancient China during the Shang Dynasty. Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding the future by carving questions onto the bone or shell. Intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks as divine answers.
Crab Shell Oracle, 1 (2022)
Black Onyx Porcelain, Glass Wax, Wax, Sulphur, Carbon, Ash, Metal
28 x 40 x 30 cm
Crab Shell Oracle, 2 (2022)
Black Onyx Porcelain, Glass Wax, Wax, Sulphur, Carbon, Ash, Metal
26 x 35 x 16 cm
Crab Shell Oracle, 3 (2022)
Black Onyx Porcelain, Glass Wax, Wax, Sulphur, Carbon, Ash, Metal
30 x 42 x 35 cm
Crab Shell Oracle, 4 (2022)
Black Onyx Porcelain, Glass Wax, Wax, Sulphur, Carbon, Ash, Metal
25 x 35 x 17 cm
Crab Shell Oracle, 5 (2022)
Black Onyx Porcelain, Glass Wax, Wax, Sulphur, Carbon, Ash, Metal
38 x 28 x 20 cm
Group Shot
Making of…
Each crab shell was moulded from a section of drift wood then cast in black onyx porcelain. Drift wood was chosen as they start adrift then over time, become shaped by the currents of their time. They are eventually swept onto beaches in colonies.
Each leg was formed using traditional Chinese bamboo then cast in wax.
The last image is an artifact bone oracle from the Shang Dynasty. (Source)
