Yanqiu Yu

The showcase is a combination of three works. This body of work traces two intertwined lines of inquiry—one rooted in personal experience, and the other in historical institutional critique.

In Aftershape, I reflect on relocation and its impact on memory by recreating objects from past living spaces. Through material transformation, these pieces preserve emotional residues and function as ‘non-human witnesses’ to fading time. This process arises from the impulse to commemorate the overlooked traces of domestic life that anchor one’s sense of orientation.

Parallel to this, my research extends to museums and historical collections. A.1-1928 responds to a stone RAM statue collected in the Victoria and Albert Museum, reconstructed through firsthand research and historical archives. I examine the gap between official narratives and fragmentary realities, turning archival references into open frameworks for re-reading objects. The Collector’s Prosthesis continues this trajectory by focusing on the act of collecting itself. Inspired by Chinese antiquarian paintings, I shift attention to marginal elements—bases, stands, and other ‘prosthetic’ supports—that shape the way objects are viewed and valued. These overlooked structures carry symbolic weight, extending the collector’s will and forming the unseen grammar of display.