Golden Lakes
Golden Lakes Triptych, 2024
Ebru marbled, digitally printed, hand-painted glasses with calligraphy ink, gold mineral pigment, chrome paint & raw coal pigment in rotating wooden frame, each glass 15 x 10 cm
This glass triptych was created during my exchange program ‘Ecologies of Water’ 2024 at LIA Leipzig International Art Programme and exhibited in ‘SEEING DOUBLE’ group show at Galerie Archiv Massiv, Leipzig. My works in this group show revolve around my research on Leipzig’s waterscape transformation from open-cast lignite mines to artificial lakes, and nowadays as potential resources for hydropower.
For Golden Lakes, each glass plane is painted and marbled on both sides. The glasses were put in rotating frames, enabling the audiences the autonomy to participate. Therefore, this double-sidedness signifies the notion of ‘the reversed’, revealing the frontal and back sides of each glass plane and of the ecological issue in consideration.
The phrase featured on the glass plane on the left comes from an article about excavated villages and the consequences of lignite mining in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In which, one of the displaced villager uttered "God created Lusatia, the devil created the coal beneath it" (in German "Gott schuf die Lausitz, der Teufel die Kohle darunter"). The phrase is then partially erased, leaving spaces for viewers to complete with their own thoughts on our interrelation with nature/ aquatic environment and our beliefs. Additionally, the choice of gold mineral pigment came from the idea of “kohle” in German meaning both “coal” and “gold” or “money”.
The drawing on the middle glass piece was based on one of the archival materials at Mining Technology Park in the south of Leipzig. The original reference highlights how coal mining was highly regarded in the GDR. The front side with calligraphy ink retraces while blurring the extracted image. On the other hand, its back was painted with reflective chrome paint, suggesting the surface of a lake.
On the glass plane on the right, the text “Nach der Kohle” which means “After Coal”, is in fact the title of a podcast series in Germany dedicating to reports on structural changes in the Central Germany lignite mining region. This text was firstly created with raw coal powder, collected and processed from Mining Technology Park. It then was sealed with a reflective chrome paint layer.