The Soil Project

Without soil, there’s no life. 

The Soil Project started during my 4-month exchange study in Stockholm. It captures my experience of studying and living in 3 countries—China, Australia and Sweden. The land you stand on shapes the local culture and shapes who you are as a person. Sometimes you reject the culture unconsciously and sometimes you embrace it. You always take something with you and leave something behind while you move around. 

At the start of the project, I wanted to capture the essence of living in different locations through making a site-specific project. I traveled to different cities in Sweden, walked around in Stockholm and in Konstfack, the university where I studied jewellery design. I was observing what materials, objects or elements that appear a lot in the surrounding. I started collecting materials locally while I travel, such as fallen leaves, flowers, soil samples near trees, soil in the neighbourhood near Konstfack, etc. 

Soil became an obvious choice for emphasizing the essence of local culture and surrounding. Soil is a metaphor that connects to place, identity and culture. I want to make a living / breathing material using soil. 

The addition of rice acts as a natural adhesive agent. I have been experimenting material making using rice since 2020 (see rice fabric (2020) and rice clay (2021) for more info). The reason that The Great Wall is so sturdy for so many years, it was partially because sticky rice was added into the brick making as a strong adhesive agent. Grass and mud are also used in making huts or ancient buildings such as in China and in some African countries.

Material tells stories. Some people see soil as dirt. Even when I started collecting soil and turning them into a material, I was wearing gloves. I didn’t want to touch them directly or get my hands dirty. 

‘How would you wear this on your body?’ I once asked 2 friends with a soil clay object. And it was still wet.

‘I would NOT wear that on my body.’ They both said with firm voices, not even wanting to touch the object. 

Some people associate the final result to horse poo when it was still moist. Some people love its breathing texture. It’s controversial. And I just want people to see it as what it is, without a filter.