Recall is the third project of The House Phase installation series.  These site-specific installations are based on my parents’ hand-built adobe home in northern China. The installations take on a simple one-room-house structure, and are built using a wide range of materials, from traditional adobe bricks (see The Little House Stands On the Prairie), to delicate 8-foot-long wax drips.

Recall was made from approximately 500 hand-made wax drips.

The installation mimics the exact angle of the rafter and roof in the barn, suspended in the center of the space, visually register as the core of light of the decaying building. As light falls through the hundreds of gaps in the roof, it projects as light circles that glide across the space and the artwork through out time. The wax drip house reminds viewers of a familiar domestic space, though dislocated in a hollow barn. The fragility of the material calls for the uncertainty within the viewer about a house, and what it stands for—shelter, protection, and home.

The 1900’s cattle barn that hosted the installation, CA

In the rural Chinese dwellings, people typically use one light bulb for the entire house. Recall was re-installed at GalleryOne using a single light bulb in the center of the piece. Dramatic strips of shadow sway on both the floor and the surrounding walls. As the viewer enter the piece, his/her shadow affects the lighting and dimming of the space, and become part of the installation.

Recall at WCC GalleryOne