From Yiwu to you, 2015–present

From Yiwu to you, 2015–present, is an ongoing large-scale installation of faux Delftware tiles made from sheets of cyanotype (a type of photographic print that is cyan blue). The sheets are meant to resemble European porcelain rooms that were inspired by a period of increasing trade with China. Wealthy people could indulge themselves by being ensconced in rooms entirely decorated in exoticized East Asian motifs. The imagery for this work references trade, travel, and consumerism that took and still takes place between sites on China’s east coast (such as Yiwu Market) and the rest of the world via the ancient and modern Silk Roads. The historic trade routes run along the Taklamakan Desert and the Karakoram Highway (also known as the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) and encompass maritime routes. The installation aims to both contest the claims that trade with China has always been a one-sided exchange, and question the political, economic, and social repercussions.