Five Color Stone
Ella A.
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For this project I recontextualized an ancient Chinese myth in the context of climate change. This sculpture is based on the Five Color Stone from the Chinese myth NuWa mends the sky (????). Long ago, a fight broke out between the gods. It was so violent that it tore a hole in the sky and water gushed forth, threatening to flood the earth. In order to save humanity, the goddess NuWa used a five color stone to repair the hole. I noticed clear similarities to the ozone layer issue, especially how people were able to work together to ban CFCs and reduce the size of the ozone hole significantly. This is one of the greatest victories against the climate crisis to date, and my intent with this piece was to show how global cooperation and science can solve climate change by replacing the five colors with the colors of the ozone layer from scientific diagrams. I also wanted to illustrate the idea of a hole in the sky for the viewer by making a hole in a rock. To visualize this idea I wanted to create the five color stone from the story by making a transparent resin plate modeled after the ozone diagram and embedding it in a rock.
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As a Chinese American person living in San Francisco, I've always been interested in Chinese culture and passionate about climate justice. My art allows me to connect with my cultural heritage and shed light on the environmental issues we face within the climate crisis.
