Recall is the third project of The House Phase Installation Series. These site-specific installations are based on the artist’s 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 is made from approximately 600 pure Paraffin wax strips hand-stretched from water, each measuring 5 to 8 feet in length. These delicate strands of wax shatter easily to a light touch. Suspended in the center of the space, the installation echoes the angle of the rafters and the roof of the barn. Recall draws an elusive image of a small double-sloped house, referencing the artist’s birth place—a small adobe house in northern rural China. Through the fragility of the wax material, Recall speaks to our shared longing for home as an intangible image of shelter, protection and belonging.

The 1900’s cattle barn at the Djerassi Foundation that hosted the installation, Woodside, CA

Shattered Paraffin drips, Recall de-installation, photo by Frank Foreman

Recall/Norway at the Hå gamle prestegard, Norway

In the rural Chinese dwellings, people typically use a single light bulb to light the entire house. Recall/Shadow (Norway) made use of a single light bulb in the center of the piece. As the viewer enter the piece, his/her shadow affects the lighting and dimming of the space, and become part of the installation.

Photo by Helen Elise Karlsen