Porcelain, glaze, aluminium, wood, and felt

Inside a closed fist, one can gather the beauty of a thousand cliffs.
Tu Wan, Catalogue of the Stones of the Cloud Forest (12th century)

Scholars’ rocks are regarded as minute representations of mountains—stones that capture the essence of their telluric force and majesty. When these rocks are displayed with water, together they become miniature facsimiles of landscapes bestowing the beholder with a means to escape everyday life, from within the perimeter of a room or a garden, putting within their reach the powers of nature.
During the pandemic, Julie & Jesse were inspired by these treasured ornamental rocks seeing in them a way to break free from confinement and commune with the natural environment existing beyond the walls of their home.
The duo started to sculpt their own specimens of rocks and representation of water experimenting with recycled porcelain and waste organic materials collected from within their home and studio to emulate natural textures and create a series of Lilliputian landscapes titled My home becomes a universe.
Each piece from the series is a multi-object installation composed of an accumulation of pixel-like sculptures that fit in the palm of a hand and can be reconfigured by the viewers to create varying landscapes, placing them at the centre of the work and giving them the agency to engage both body and mind with a twenty-first-century vision of the shanshui (mountain and water) tradition.
Arranged within a frame, in a grid, blocks of white porcelain, blue tinted porcelain, and sculpted rocks fused on blocks of porcelain—like a new form of gongshi (scholar’s rock) on their stands—are juxtaposed, exploring the intersection of urban and natural landscapes.
The coexistence of controlled square blocks and loose experimental blocks, both made from porcelain, echo the landscape in the Anthropocene and examine the relationship between humankind and nature.