Acts of dwelling, 2025
series of sculptures
Ceramic, reeds, lime plaster

Acts of Dwelling is a series of sculptures made from clay and living plants, that explores dwelling as an active, embodied practice of inhabiting. Dwelling here is proposed not as a fixed condition but as an ongoing, relational act—both in relation with the environment and with the practical needs of cohabitation and survival. It is a mode of making space that resists static identities and embraces fragility, rootedness, and co-existence.

The sculptural structures are reminiscent of architectural typologies, while the color of the terracotta directly refers to earthen constructions. Soil itself gains symbolic weight as the foundational material: the cavities or “nests” for the reeds are built in a manner that recalls Ampo, an Indonesian snack made of earth, consumed to stave off hunger, though it holds no nutritional value. This act—geophagy—is in some cultures pathologized, yet here it gestures to a primal need, a bodily and psychological hunger. In this sense, soil is not simply substrate but it becomes a reminder, metaphor, and material of vulnerability, interdependence, and the necessity of care. The reeds—living, fragile yet persistent—are integrated as architectural elements, coated in lime plaster, a substance traditionally used to strengthen and preserve building surfaces. In addition, lime has disinfectant properties and is often used on tree trunks to protect them from attacks by wood-eating insects and fungi. This coexistence of strength and the need for protection summarizes the primary condition for habitation.