Ting Ying Han

Yearning Reflections explores the complex interplay between memory, cultural identity, and displacement. The round dinner table, a symbol of unity and reunion in Chinese tradition, becomes an abstract vessel for reflection. Covered entirely in rice, a staple and metaphor for sustenance, the table transforms into a meditation on absence and belonging. The dining set, crafted from the same rice that would typically serve as food, blurs the boundaries between nourishment and emptiness, presence and loss. This piece invites viewers to contemplate the metaphysical weight of cultural traditions, the dislocation of the immigrant experience, and the ever-present yearning to reconstruct a sense of home in foreign spaces.